"The new self-proclaimed caliph seeks to draw legitimacy by claiming heritage from the prophet's Quraysh tribe -- as did all IS leaders before him. 'The Qurashi name is used as a branding for the leader,' Hans-Jakob Schindler, director of the Counter-Extremism Project think-tank, told AFP. 'Even if it is just a made up name... it is sufficient for the network to function.'"

"IS-Somalia "is much more invested in its ability to support ISIS networks elsewhere," Edmund Fitton-Brown, a former top U.N. official who is now a senior adviser to the New York and Berlin-based Counter Extremism Project (CEP), told VOA."

CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler interviewed: "Unfortunately, this is just the latest incident in a region that is really now a belt of insecurity stretching from the West African coast all the way to the East African coast. And Burkina Faso is unfortunately by now one of the hotspots of this region, which large-scale networks both of al-Qaeda as well as the Islamic operate. Now in Burkina Faso, the main operating network and very likely candidate responsible for this attack is JNIM, the coalition that al-Qaeda built of regional affiliates in 2017, which now controls large parts of the country."