Population: Sunni Muslim 100%

Islam and the state: Somalia has been without an effective central government for much of the 1990s, after President Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991. Fighting between rival warlords and the inability to deal with famine and disease has led to the death of up to one million people. A transitional government set up in 2000 only controls parts of the capital.

Militant Islam: US officials believe a Somali-based Islamic group, al-Ittihad al-Islamiya, may have carried out attacks on Israeli tourists in the Kenyan city of Mombasa in November 2002. The US says the group has links to al-Qaeda. Somalia's largest company, the Barakat Bank, was shut down after being linked by the US to al-Qaeda.