Hundreds of Elite British troops are preparing to be deployed to Somalia in the coming months to help fight growing terrorist networks. The elite British troops will also be tasked in training Somali Special Forces (Danab) on how to combat the multiplying threat from the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab which get finances through vicious kidnappings, robberies and extortion.
The British infantry forces will step up a training mission to teach Somali special forces how to crash the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab and Islamic State threat this steadily building up northern Somalia (Puntland prefectures).
British officers from an elite Army unit are already in the region making plans for the mission which is expected to launch in late Spring of 2022.
The unfolding comes in the wake of the death of Tory MP David Amess, 69, who was stabbed to death in an alleged terrorist attack during his constituency surgery. He was stabbed by a British man identified Ali Harbi Ali, 25, whose family are originally from Somalia. Ali Harbi Ali has since been charged with murder after being arrested at the scene of the killing on October 15.
A small number of British troops have been in Somalia helping with training for some time but now the operation is being stepped up. They are training the 60th Somalia National Army Division between camps in Baidoa and the capital Mogadishu.
According to the British Army sources, their mission is sensitive as although a few scores of British troops are already in Somalia, this will put a new emphasis on counter-terror operations there. The scouting mission has also been liaising across the border in Kenya with local multi counter-terror agencies about the growing terror threat
The UK has also deployed peacekeepers from the Royal Anglian Regiment in Mali that is also battling extremist fighters linked to the Al-Qaeda and Islamic State.
