London (insidesomalia.org) - The foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) is advising any British critizen from travelling to Somalia, including Somaliland and Puntland.  FCO also advice British citizens in Somalia to leave, see FCO website.

The recent insurgent activitieis and political tension is very high.  There has been particularly intense fighting in and around Mogadishu for past two months, including increased suicide bomb attack on 18th June, killing the Somali Security Minister.  The Somali president, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed has declared state of emergency on 22nd June, see related story.

Westerns have high chance of being kidnapped for ransom.  There are two Western journalists kidnapped for nearly 10 months in Somalia's volatile capital Mogadishu (Australian Journalist Ambroise Pierre and Canadian Freelance Journalist Amanda Lindhout) .  It is reported that kidnapers are requesting over a $1M in order to release the journalists. 

Also, it is beleived that foreign fighters are fighting along extremist insurgents such as Hizbul Islam and Al-Shabaab, in particular Al-Qaeda have setup network.  There is a high chance that next big base for Al-Qaeda will be in Southern areas of Somalia.

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