The Islamic State has ‘provinces’ in Africa. That doesn’t mean what you might think.

In March, militants from the Islamic State’s Central Africa Province (ISCAP) attacked the city of Palma in Mozambique. They destroyed parts of the infrastructure, killing and beheading civilians and overrunning sections of the city for days.

Global headlines soon percolated that claims that the Islamic State was involved in the violence were overblown. This analysis centered on arguments that the Islamic State’s central leadership — “IS Central” and based in Iraq, security experts believe — had no command and control over the Mozambican group. The violence in Palma, some argued, was primarily motivated by unemployment and government grievances, not extremist ideology.