On 4 September 2026 the United Nations Security Council ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee amended two entries on its sanctions list, both of relevance to operators working in or supporting activity across Africa and South and Central Asia.
Sanaullah Ghafari, listed under reference QDi.431, is an Afghan national recorded as the leader of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Khorasan, commonly known as ISIL-K, and as an information technology expert. His entry was first listed in December 2021 and has now been amended again.
Abubakar Swalleh, listed under reference QDi.436, is a Ugandan national recorded as an ISIL facilitator who has, since 2018, provided financial and logistic support, including recruitment, for ISIL in East and Southern Africa. His entry was first listed in June 2025.
Both individuals are subject to an assets freeze, a travel ban and an arms embargo under Security Council resolution 2734 of 2024. For operators, the update is a current-intelligence marker rather than an incident: it confirms active ISIL-K command based in Afghanistan and a named ISIL financing and recruitment network reaching across East and Southern Africa, the same wider movement behind the IS-Mozambique threat covered separately in today's edition.
