Britons to be deported after arrest near Somalia

TWO British men arrested in Kenya after allegedly trying to cross the border into Somalia are to be deported back to the UK, Kenyan police have said.

The pair, who are understood to be 17 or 18, went missing from their homes in Cardiff last week.

It is unclear why the youths were trying to reach Somalia – a destination known to attract jihadist sympathisers hoping to join Islamist rebel group al-Shabaab.

Charles Owino, deputy spokesman for the Kenyan police, said: “They were arrested crossing into Somalia. They are under investigation by the anti-terrorism unit of the Kenyan police.”

Cardiff South and Penarth MP Alun Michael said the pair had disappeared last week, leaving their worried families fearing for their safety.

“The Muslim community became very concerned when they discovered that two young men had gone missing, one from a Somali background and one from a Pakistani background,” he said.

“They are both quite young, and from what I have been told they are two bright, intelligent young men who have got their lives before them.”

Their arrests came as Kenyan authorities maintain a high state of alert following the abduction of four westerners, including Briton Judith Tebbutt, from the country’s border region with Somalia by groups with probable links to al-Shabaab.

In apparent response to the repeated incursions, the Kenyan military is now involved in a major operation which has involved moving a large number of troops into southern Somalia.

Somalia’s government earlier this week said it did not approve of Kenya’s push into southern Somalia, but yesterday the two sides agreed to co-ordinate their military operations in pursuit of al-Shabaab insurgents.