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World Service,8 mins

The woman on the frontline against Al Shabaab

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Available for over a year

Iman Elman is a captain in the Somali National Army leading a team of soldiers liberating towns and villages from the control of the Islamist militant group Al Shabaab. The 24-year-old is unusual as women make up only 7 percent of Somalia's military and very few of them go into combat. Her father Elman Ali Ahmed was a peace activist whose motto was "put down the gun, pick up a pen". She told Matthew Bannister why she decided to join the army. Image: Somali National Army Captain Iman Elman

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