You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Africa Horn
Britons join the jihadist ranks to fight in Somalia
2010-05-02
Jihadi tourism. The same type that used to go to Iraq to get killed, and before that Afghanistan. Of course they thought they were going to swan about, seducing the local girls with their sexy mujaheddin ways, not actually be sent off fully drugged and wearing a suicide vest or whatever cannon fodder was called for that day. These are on the losing side of Darwin's equation.
A growing number of Britons are answering the call to jihad in Somalia and joining the ranks of militants linked to al-Qaida ahead of an American-backed drive next month to strengthen the country's army. Sources say that the influx, which includes Britons of Pakistani origin, is heading to the Horn of Africa as the US tries to shore up Somalia's government in the face of a broadening Islamist insurgency.

US State Department sources said yesterday that it had noted an influx of "foreign fighters" arriving in Somalia to swell the ranks of al-Shabab. Popular routes from Britain to Somalia involve Kenya or Djibouti, the small republic that borders Somalia on its north west. One western official said some flights to the republic had, at one stage, been dubbed the "Djibouti express" because on occasion so many young Britons were on board. The precise scale of the exodus is unclear, but "scores" of British fighters are known to have travelled to Somalia.

There is fresh concern over Somalia's proximity to Yemen, the Arabian peninsula base for al-Qaida. Last week the British ambassador to Yemen survived a suicide bomb attack as his convoy travelled through the capital, Sanaa. A Pentagon source said recent events meant the US was developing "significant concerns about the growing threat" in the area.

America has brought US special forces into Yemen to work with the army to try to counter the al-Qaida threat. It has also spent $6.8m in Somalia supporting training for nearly 2,000 soldiers, touted as the biggest effort to rebuild the Somalian army in 20 years.

The issue of Somalia has been repeatedly raised by Jonathan Evans, director-general of MI5. "There is no doubt that there is training activity and terrorist planning in east Africa -- particularly in Somalia -- which is focused on the UK," he has said. British security sources cite the case last month of an Australian man of Somali origin who was suspected of working with al-Shabab, but who escaped from police custody in Kenya, as an example of the new wave of foreign fighters entering the country.

The movement between Somalia and the UK has led to increased efforts to detect potential terror networks linked to Islamic militants basedin east Africa. The Somali community in Britain numbers about 250,000, the largest in Europe, with the bulk of those coming to the country as refugees within the past 20 years. Two Somali asylum-seekers were among the four men convicted of the failed attempts to bomb the London transport system on 21 July 2005.
Posted by:ryuge

#4   I feel ill when these scummers are described as being British.

Think how much better you'll feel in a bit, Dave UK, when numbers of them are described as dead.
Posted by: trailing wife   2010-05-02 14:35  

#3  I feel ill when these scummers are described as being British.
Posted by: Dave UK   2010-05-02 13:50  

#2  No surprise to see the two most hated/unemployed set of people in the UK being involved ie British pakistani origin and British Somalian origin both scum who do not offer anything to the UK except drug dealing and gang warfare!
Posted by: Spats Omereling6133   2010-05-02 09:37  

#1  Good riddance. Just don't let them back in if they happen to survive.
Posted by: Glenmore   2010-05-02 08:28  

00:00