Irish troops could be training Somalian armed forces in Mogadishu within months, it emerged today.

THINK of Somalia and images of pirates, al Qaeda, drought, famine, civil war, Black Hawk Down and US embassy bombings spring to mind.

IRISH troops have spoken of their task, in Uganda, in training 2,000 Somali soldiers to help fight pirates involved in a number of hijacks on international ships.

Five Irish soldiers will be hand-picked in the coming weeks to train up troops for reputedly the most dangerous country in the world, it was revealed today.