Danab Brigade
Somali National Army infantry commando force
The Danab Brigade (Somali: Ciidamada Danab, "Lightning Force"), also known as the Somali Danab, are a U.S. sponsored light infantry force of the Somali National Army. They are made up of members from multiple clans throughout Somalia.
Danab have been successful in recapturing territory previously held by the Al-Qaeda affiliate group and Al-Shabaab, They have carried out counterinsurgency in desert and urban terrain, executive protection, hostage rescue, provided security in areas at risk of Al-Shabaab attack or terrorism, and reconnaissance.
Even though they are special forces, they never describe themselves with this term. They call themselves 'Commandos'.
History
In February 2014, U.S. contractors concluded a six-month training course for the first commandos since 1991. Training had been carried out by Bancroft Global Development, a U.S. private military contractor, paid for by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) which is then reimbursed by the U.S. State Department. The aim was to create a mixed-clan unit. The Danab Special Forces units was established at Baledogle Airfield, in Walaweyn District, Lower Shabelle.
The training of the first Danab company ("Advanced Infantry Company") began in October 2013, with 150 recruits.
The public source identifies “Danab Brigade” as somali National Army infantry commando force. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Danab, Brigade and Somali.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q65560812. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2014, 1991 and 2013.
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This entry incorporates text from “Danab Brigade” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.