New ISIS leader Abdul Qadir Mumin ran terror operations from a cave in Somalia after preaching in UK mosques for years.

Mumin, an orange-bearded and elusive terrorist, now commands ISIS forces from Puntland as the operational head of ISIS' General Directorate of the Provinces (GDP), which coordinates the activities of ISIS branches across the world.

Born in Somalia in the 1950s, he fled the civil war, living in a Somali area in Gothenburg, Sweden, before moving to the UK around 2000.

There, he preached at Quba Mosque in Leicester and Greenwich Mosque in London, recruiting young Britons to join Islamist terrorist groups in Somalia.

He crossed paths with notorious terrorists, including infamous Jihadi John and Lee Rigby's murderer Michael Adebolajo. Mumin left the UK in 2010, abandoning his wife and three children, who remain in Slough with no contact.

"We have not seen or heard from him in more than 10 years. We have nothing to do with him. The kids know who he is, but they don't have any contact with him either."

After returning to Somalia, he pledged allegiance to al-Shabaab, then defected to ISIS in 2015, growing its Somalian cell from 30 to around 1,200 fighters by 2024.

Somali and US forces have hunted Mumin since early 2025. Airstrikes on Puntland caves several weeks ago killed several, but Mumin remains at large.

Mumin's new position has drawn criticism from other jihadists, who claim that only an Arab descendent of Prophet Muhammed from the Quraysh tribe, can take the role as leader. They argue that Mumin's African roots disqualify him from being the leader of ISIS.