Somalia

Somalia is a Muslim country that is a combination of former colonies known as British Somaliland, French Somaliland and Italian Somaliland. Somalia has been Muslim since A.D. 900 and today is considered one of the bases for the terrorist group al-Qaeda. Roughly the size of Texas in area, Somalia is located in the Horn of Africa, its coastline on(the Indian Ocean) bordering both Ethiopia and Kenya.

Somalia obtained its independence in 1960. The violence is such in Somalia today that it has no central government. In 1993, 18 American soldiers were killed there during the Operations depicted in the Movie Black Hawk Down. On Jan. 9, 2007 the United States, operating in supprt of Ethiopian troops, bombed parts of the country were al-Qaeda terrorists were believed to be hiding.