Ayub Abdirizak — or "Kabtan Ayub," as he is known to his social media followers — can easily reach hundreds of thousands of people with his posts on TikTok and Facebook. His messages often carry a blend of hatred for rival clans in Somalia and incitement to violence against them.

And he built his social media career in Germany, where he arrived in 2017 and remained for about seven years, operating under the radar of authorities while encouraging bloodshed back home.

"Take the guns and fight," Ayub urges his followers in a video he posted in late 2022. Offering what he calls practical advice from personal experience, he tells fighters to climb tall buildings to spot enemies at a distance. "Shoot any person on the highway once you see they are wearing a military uniform," he says. And it's not just the military who is the enemy in this scenario, Ayub tells his audience: People who refuse to let them enter buildings to take their rooftop positions should be "shot on the forehead" and left with a "bullet mark on his face."

As now uncovered by DW's investigative team in collaboration with the German public broadcaster ARD, German authorities eventually took notice of Ayub's efforts at incitement. We set out to trace his path — and study the destructive influence he wields. The investigation also examined the reach of another war influencer who continues to use Germany as a haven to call for violence back in Somalia.

Somalia has grappled with armed conflict and volatile politics for decades. With the federal government constantly fighting the militant Al-Shabab group for more than a decade, longer-running deep-rooted conflicts between the clans that dominate Somali society have complicated efforts to build national unity and institute effective governance. Amid such instability, several Somali regions have forged their own political paths.

Ayub's story is closely tied to the often-violent rivalry between two regions in northern Somalia. Puntland is governed by President Said Abdullahi Deni of the Majerteen clan, whom Ayub supports in his videos. Neighboring Somaliland declared independence in 1991, although the self-proclaimed republic failed to gain international recognition. Violence frequently erupts on the border between Puntland and Somaliland.

Ayub seems to take pride in detailing the violence of his youth in Somalia for his online followers. "I left my family when I was 13 years old and took a gun," Ayub, who is now in his........

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