Extremist who attempted to become IS martyr jailed

A man who travelled to Somalia to join the Islamic State (IS) in a failed bid to become a "martyr" has been jailed for 12 years.

Somalia-born security guard Mohamed Mohamoud, 22, from Bristol, travelled to East Africa in January 2025, but returned to England two months later after failing to reach the group because of UK counter-terrorism operations.

Following a trial at Winchester Crown Court in August, he was found guilty of preparing for acts of terrorism.

Passing his sentence at the Old Bailey on Monday, judge Mr Justice Lickley told Mohamoud: "You did everything you could to join IS and were prevented by factors beyond your control."

Jurors were told that Mohamoud was radicalised after viewing extreme material on YouTube and TikTok.

However, his bid to become a "martyr" for IS failed because of ongoing counter-terrorism operations and he returned to the UK on 3 March.

After returning home, he remained in contact with IS recruiters and told them: "Any time, you say the word, I will return."

He was arrested by counter-terror police a year later. Investigators seized Mohamoud's phone, which contained data showing it in various locations around Somalia during January and March 2025.

Detectives also located a Telegram chat thread in which Mohamoud asked for help to travel to Somalia so that he could join the "Mujahideen". He said in a message that his ambition was to become a "martyr".

IS is a proscribed group in the UK and Mohamoud was prosecuted under the Terrorism Act 2006.

Mohamoud, who first moved to the UK to join members of his family in 2017, had conversations with what the court heard were "AI bots" used by IS to screen applicants.

Prosecutor Naomi Parsons told Mr Justice Lickley that Mohamoud had become radicalised in 2024 and had travelled to Somalia but had been unable to join the fighters as the conflict was too intense.

Videos on his phone showed he held what prosecutors described as "an Islamist ideology". They included IS propaganda featuring beheadings, executions and footage of battlefield scenes.

Other messages dated after his return from Somalia were found in which Mohamoud said he wanted to commit himself to "jihad".

The court was told that Mohamoud had been offered a role as a spy for the terrorist group, but had turned it down because he thought his Somali family connections would make it too easy for him to be identified.

The judge remarked that had he reached the conflict "we can't say what he would have been tasked with".

"Any new recruit would have had a high expectation of death," he observed.

He agreed with a prosecution suggestion that the Somalia conflict area was "a killing zone".

For the defence, Dominic Thomas said that, while Mohamoud had made foolish and unpleasant comments since his return to the UK, he had not made any attempts to revisit Somalia.

"He went there to fight and die, he made no bones about it," he said.

"But the emphasis was that he was offering his own life, that was his expectation."

Thomas continued: "IS was ceding ground, losing camps every day.

"Even experienced fighters were going down in numbers. This defendant said throughout that he was expecting martyrdom and to him it would count because his family were generally anti-IS.

"There was a wrong-headedness about what he was planning to do which he is belatedly beginning to see," he added.

Mohamoud, who was dressed in a blue tracksuit, showed no emotion as the judge told him that until he changed his "radical beliefs, he continued to pose a risk of serious harm".

Follow BBC Bristol on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.