A teenage Islamic extremist has been jailed for more than 13 years after he admitted planning a terrorist attack with a gun and trying to travel to a training camp in Somalia.

Muhammad Billal, 19, from Nelson, Lancashire, was arrested in November 2024 at Manchester airport trying to board a flight to Dubai.

He was charged the following February with two counts of preparation of terrorist acts and four counts of collecting information likely to be used by a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

At the Old Bailey on Thursday, almost a year after pleading guilty, Billal was handed an extended sentence of 13-and-a-half years in custody, with an extended licence period of five years by Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb.

Judge Cheema-Grubb said: “By your own account to the probation officer, you intended to kill members of the public and you hoped to be killed by police.

“You could not be sure that you would not have gone through with the attack.”

Billal repeatedly accessed material from so-called Islamic State (IS) and declared his support for the organisation throughout 2024 until his arrest in November, the court heard.

Those included conversations where he defended IS online with comments like “for you they are terrorists, for me they are fighters of justice and truth” along with downloading IS fitness manuals, and searching for things like “how do you join Isis?”.

The court heard his terror attack planning involved researching “nearby shooting ranges” and buying a gun on the dark web using cryptocurrency.

He also conducted online reconnaissance of potential attack locations, including churches, synagogues, busy train stations and Manchester United’s stadium.

He went on to take steps to travel to Somalia between last October and November 2024 after being contacted online.

He sought advice and guidance from those contacts on how to leave the UK without arousing suspicion, changed his appearance, deleted extreme Islamic material from his mobile phone, bought clothes, equipment and online tickets.

He also obtained a visa to enter Ethiopia in order to facilitate crossing into Somalia via Dubai.

Defending Billal, Andrew Morris said the defendant was “vulnerable” and had been “brainwashed” as a teenager after coming to the UK from Italy with his parents when he was 13.

Judge Cheema-Grubb accepted that Billal had been looking for “belonging and brotherhood” through the ideology, but not that he had been exploited.

“You were motivated by Islamic State ideology and you were motivated by martyrdom,” said Judge Cheema-Grubb.

Since being in prison, Billal has reportedly started to move away from that ideology but was still assessed as a “high risk” of further terrorist related offending, the court heard.

In April last year, prison officers found a picture of an IS flag in Billal’s cell, the court heard.

Judge Cheema-Grubb added: “You said that if you had gone to Somalia you would have killed innocent people and that you were glad you had now been arrested because it stopped you from becoming a murderer.”

Billal admitted all six offences in July last year.

Detective Chief Superintendent Jon Chadwick, head of Counter Terrorism Policing North West, said: “The offences Muhammad Billal has been convicted of are amongst the most serious charges that can be brought against an individual.

“Our investigation into his actions has been meticulous and we have been able to gather evidence which shows a firm intent to engage in acts of terrorism.

“Although he changed his focus from committing an act of terrorism in the UK to committing offences in another country, the level of detail he researched in preparation of an attack here shows the risk he presents to the public.

“That risk is reflected in the sentence passed today and we welcome that outcome.”

A young Italian woman returned to her homeland on Sunday after 18 months as a hostage in eastern Africa.

Silvia Romano lowered her face mask briefly to display a broad smile after she stepped off an Italian government plane at Rome-Ciampino International Airport.

She hugged her mother and other family members, and touched elbows instead of shaking hands with Italian foreign minister Luigi Di Maio.

Ms Romano, 24, was working as a volunteer with an Italian humanitarian group when she was abducted in November 2018 during an attack by gunman in Kenya.

Italian premier Giuseppe Conte has thanked the Italian intelligence agents who worked for her release, which took place on Friday in Somalia.

Ms Romano was taken to the Italian Embassy in Mogadishu after she was freed.

Rome-based prosecutors investigate crimes committed abroad against Italian citizens, and they are expected to question her about the kidnapping.

Italian news reports said the abductors eventually passed her into the hands of militants linked to Somalia’s al-Shabab Islamic extremists. Al-Shabab has been blamed for a series of kidnappings of foreigners along Kenya’s coast.

Friends and acquaintances in the Milan neighbourhood where Ms Romano’s family lives applauded from windows, balconies and on the streets when the plane carrying Ms Romano home landed in Rome.

Italian media also have reported that she converted to Islam while in captivity.

Neither her family nor Italian officials have commented on the assertion.

When she got off the plane, Ms Romano wore a loose-fitting garment over her hair and African outfit while she also sported a surgical mask, disposable gloves and booties to guard against Covid-19.

Protesters gathered at a popular beach in Mogadishu to condemn al-Shabab.

Less than a week ago, militants from the group had murdered twenty people at a restaurant in Lido beach.

The demonstration attracted hundreds to the same beach in solidarity with the dead. Some used the hashtag #LiidoDemonstration to promote the protest.

Hundreds of Somalis have gathered at the scene of an attack on a local beach Liido to demonstrate against #AlShabaab pic.twitter.com/pAcmBln6Tz

— Farhan Jimale (@farhanjimale) January 28, 2016

#LiidoDemonstration in support of victims that lost their lives in #Alshabab attack last week. pic.twitter.com/jo0TrkjjkV

— Omar H. Ibrahim (@MrOmarHaji) January 28, 2016

Others joined the conversation to highlight broad disdain for Al-Shabab inside Somalia. And praise those attending the protest. Others chanted that al-Shabab has ‘no religion’.

#LiidoDemonstration = act of bravery from people daring to defy & differ from terrorists trying to hold their city hostage. #Somalia

— A A Mohamoud (@AliMohamoud) January 28, 2016

SOmalia will never die, lets keep hope alive #givepeaceachance #liidodemonstration

— Mohamed Jama (@MascuudJaMa) January 28, 2016

Glad to see #LiidoDemonstration taking place in #Mogadishu & for ppl to speak against terror.

— H. (@Le_anah) January 28, 2016

#LiidoDemonstration leave alone somalia, terrorism/ Alshabab has no place in this world

— Nuuriega (@nuuriega22) January 28, 2016

Protesters held signs that read “We don’t want Al-Shabab” and “We don’t want Al-shabab…they genocide the cilivians”.

#Mogadishu residents return to Lido beach to protest against militants.”We don’t want Al-Shabab,” read one slogan. pic.twitter.com/D3DDrqlq99

— Harun Maruf (@HarunMaruf) January 28, 2016

‘UGUS (Alshabab) is a disease’ a message from the protestors #LiidoDemonstration pic.twitter.com/POWEvWlqX3

— Ibrahim Adow (@cadow10) January 28, 2016

“We don’t want Al-shabab…they genocide the cilivians” Said one of the protestors #LiidoDemonstration #Somalia pic.twitter.com/Xe99caGzpU

— Mohamed SUDANI (@MSudaani) January 28, 2016

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