Somalia: UK weighs up air strikes against rebels | World news | The Guardian

Mounting concern about the twin threats posed by pirates and Islamic insurgents operating in Somalia has led Britain and other EU nations to consider the feasibility of air strikes against their logistical hubs and training camps, the Guardian has been told.

The issue has been rising up the agenda of David Cameron's National Security Council in recent months, reflecting anxiety in the west about piracy, but also the ambitions of some leaders within al-Shabaab, the clan-based movement that is fighting against Somalia's western-backed transitional government.

Though the "war games" remain on the drawing board for now, the disclosure that they have been under serious scrutiny shows the depth of unease about the situation within the British government, which is hosting an international conference on Somalia in London starting on Thursday.

According to sources, the international coalition that has been spearheading the fight against the pirates drew up contingency plans in the summer of 2010, and again last year, for what was termed "over the beach" air strikes against Somali camps.

The UK has also considered plans for attacking targets in places where al-Shabaab and the pirates appear to co-exist, particularly in southern Somalia.

Hmmm. A nice can of worms.

Somalis must be planning a few weddings.

Originally Posted by Fred_Frog_1987

Somalians must be planning a few weddings.

Don't you mean 12 year old's forced rape ceremonies

What happend to no more wars / bombing forighners untill after 2020 i thought we were having capability holidays not somali ones. That must have been the shortest goverment spending / defence diet in history with the munchies for more.

What are NATO going to bomb? The feckers have done a great and continuing job of destroying they're own country. Wasting vast amounts of tax payer funded bombs on this latest basket case seems pointless unless of course your're a senior air force officer trying to justify funding after the Afghan thing comes to an end.

has anyone got the budget to drop any bombs????
Maybe we should drop water bombs, that'd make the plants grow stop the hunger, problem solved.

F-Bombs? Get a couple of woodentops to swear the buggers forward to the Middle Ages.

Oh no!!

Impossable mission for UK Armed Forces...

How can we do it now that Ark Royal and Harrier have been retired?

I'm pretty sure I heard on the news that the government has just got a windfall of £7bn and a bit, and its gotta be spent somehow otherwise we won't get it next year...

Why not drop some bombs on the fuzzy wuzzies and muck up their training camps for a bit. Maybe...

Reinventing the wheel again , Bomber Harris had the right idea in the 20's and early 30's.

"The only thing the Arab understands is the heavy hand."

Or poison gas and delayed action bombs at that time.