deputy of the group until his death in October 2018. He was succeeded as deputy by Abdihakim Mohamed Ibrahim, alias "Dhoqob", who was believed to be Mumin's "right-hand man". Dhoqob was killed on 14 April 2019, and his death was portrayed by the United States Africa Command as major blow to ISS. Though it is probable that ISS controls a relatively small territory in Puntland's mountainous hinterland, the group is not known to have attempted to set up something resembling a government at any point of its existence. ISS' current areas are only very sparsely settled or not populated at all, while Qandala's civilian population completely fled during its occupation by the militants. By November 2019, ISS controlled the villages of Dasaan and Shebaab in Bari region. The group is known to use caves as hiding places. Military strength The strength of the Islamic State in Somalia fluctuated over time, and is not known with certainty. Mumin's initial cell was estimated at about 20 members, growing to less than 100 by August 2016. At the time of the Qandala campaign, a former Puntland Intelligence Agency official argued that ISS counted 200 to 300 militants. Following its defeat at Qandala, local observers judged that the group declined to just 70–150 members by June 2017. The Islamic State in Somalia subsequently recruited new fighters to alleviate its manpower shortage, though Somali journalists gave widely different accounts on the success of this recruitment drive. Accordingly, ISS was believed to be between 100 and 300 militants strong by mid-2018. The vast majority of ISS members are Somalis, with only a few foreign mujahideen fighting for the group, including Sudanese, Yemenis, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Djiboutis, and at least one Canadian. Propaganda The propaganda of ISS is generally extremely inferior compared to its direct rival al-Shabaab. The Islamic State in Somalia initially had no media wing of its own and also has not organized a "robust informal media presence". Instead, it mostly relies on the existing propaganda channels of IS, such as the Amaq News Agency, the Al Naba newsletter , the Global Front to Support the Islamic State, and the media arms of other IS branches in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Egypt, and Libya. The propaganda video of December 2017 that declared ISS a province, however, also claimed to have been produced by the "Media Office of Wilayat al Somal". In late 2019, ISS began releasing propaganda