Briton held for suspected links to Somali terror group

A British man was arrested in the Somali capital yesterday for suspected links to the Islamist rebel group al-Shabaab.

The suspect was apprehended at the Mogadishu airport before heading to Kismayu, a southern port city held by al-Shabaab, an al-Qa'ida-aligned group battling Somalia's transitional federal government and the African Union's (AU) troops.

"A British man linked to al-Shabaab is in our hands," police spokesman Abdullahi Barise said. "He is under investigation."

Paddy Ankunda, a spokesman for the AU's force Amisom, said the suspect had been arrested by an Amisom intelligence official before being handed over to Somali police. Mr Ankunda identified the suspect as Cleve Everton Dennis and said he had previously travelled to Ethiopia in 2010.