LONDON, United Kingdom – In a surprising development, the wife of the current ISIS leader in Somalia, Abdulkadir Mumin, has spoken publicly for the first time about her husband’s whereabouts and their severed family ties, according to a report by the UK’s Daily Mail.
Muna Abdule, who resides in the United Kingdom with their three children, told the Daily Mail that Mumin left her and their children when they were young.
She revealed that to this day, she has no information about his location or his intentions, noting she has neither seen nor heard from him for a decade and that he has no real relationship with his children.
“He left us… what more can I say? I haven’t seen him for 10 years, nor heard from him. The children know he exists, but there is no connection,” Muna stated.
She added that she finds it extremely difficult to explain to her children where their father is or what he is doing.
During a past visit to Somalia, Mumin claimed he had changed, but Muna said that statement was untrue and that they had had no contact since.
This interview coincides with ongoing reports that Mumin is still in hiding within the Al-Miskaad mountains of Puntland. The area is the target of intense joint military operations by Puntland forces and U.S. special operations units.
On November 25, U.S. special forces conducted assaults on ISIS bases in the Baalade hills, with strikes by MQ-9 Reaper drones killing a senior ISIS official and up to 15 fighters from Syria, Turkey, and Ethiopia.
These operations are part of a concerted effort to eliminate the ISIS faction entrenched in the Bari region’s mountains, of which Mumin is now the leader.
The public emergence of Mumin’s wife, living a normal life in the West, is a devastating piece of psychological warfare. It directly undermines the ISIS narrative of total commitment, sacrifice, and the establishment of a “caliphate” family life.
It paints Mumin not as a revered emir but as an absentee father who abandoned his family a deeply shameful image in Somali and Islamic culture. This humanizes and diminishes the myth of the leader.
The publication of this interview is unlikely to be coincidental. It comes precisely as joint U.S.-Puntland forces are actively hunting Mumin in the mountains.
This could be part of a coordinated information operation aimed at showing their leader’s personal failures, highlighting his disconnection from even his own family and potentially affecting his loyalty base. It aims to shift his image from a shadowy terrorist to a flawed individual which can alter local perceptions.
The stark contrast between Muna’s life in London and Mumin’s existence as a fugitive in the Somali mountains is jarring. It exposes the profound hypocrisy and personal cost of extremist leadership.
While he preaches a totalitarian ideology, his family benefits from and lives within the very Western societies he seeks to destroy. This duality is a potent tool for counter-extremism messaging.
The interview reveals that key ISIS figures maintain deep personal and logistical ties to the West.
Muna’s situation suggests a network that allowed for family relocation and support. This should trigger enhanced financial and travel surveillance on the families of other high-ranking militants to disrupt support networks and potential escape plans.
Muna’s account provides a heartbreaking look at the collateral damage of terrorism on families. Her struggle to explain her husband’s path to their children is a powerful, human story that can be used to deter potential recruits by showcasing the inevitable personal ruinabandoned families, traumatized children, and a legacy of shamethat follows a choice to join such groups.
This is far more than a human-interest story. It is a strategically timed, highly damaging expose that attacks the ISIS leader’s credibility at its core: his personal integrity and commitment. By showcasing his abandonment of his family in the West, it dismantles his religious and ideological authority and provides a devastating narrative for counterterrorism forces to exploit both militarily and in the war of ideas. It turns the hunter’s target into a figure of personal tragedy and moral failure.
