A growing number of Britons are answering the call to jihad in Somalia and joining the ranks of militants linked to al-Qaeda ahead of a US-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.
Warnings have been sounded about British-based groups offering funding and expertise to individuals seeking to travel to Somalia to fight alongside al-Shabab, a militia aligned with al-Qaeda’s global campaign.
US State Department sources said on Saturday that the influx of “foreign fighters” arriving in Somalia to swell the ranks of al-Shabab had been noted. Popular routes from Britain to Somalia involve neighboring countries Kenya or Djibouti.
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 is unclear, but “scores” of British fighters are known to have traveled to Somalia.
Concern is growing over the drip-feed of British men attending Somali training camps. Officials are keen to limit the country’s potential to evolve into an alternative hideout for al-Qaeda extremists from Afghanistan and Pakistan. Somalia’s ungoverned spaces raise the risk, say analysts, of the country replicating Afghanistan’s role as an al-Qaeda safe haven when under Taliban control.
There is also fresh concern over Somalia’s proximity to Yemen, the Arabian Peninsula base for al-Qaeda. Last week, the British ambassador to Yemen survived a suicide bomb attack as his convoy traveled through the capital. A Pentagon source said recent events meant the US was developing “significant concerns about the growing threat” in the area.
The US has sent special forces into Yemen to work with the army to try to counter the al-Qaeda threat. It has also spent US$6.8 million in Somalia supporting training for nearly 2,000 soldiers, touted as the biggest effort to rebuild the Somali army in two decades.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS