"A larger peacekeeping force is required in Somalia" Gordon Brown, Barack Obama

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office said Britain and the U.S. had agreed to intensify their joint work to tackle "the emerging terrorist threat" from both Yemen and Somalia in the wake of the failed Detroit attack on Christmas day.

On Somalia, Brown's office said he and Obama "believe that a larger peacekeeping force is required and will support this at the United Nations (UN) Security Council."

The Somali government and the African Union (AU) have pleaded with the UN to send a robust peacekeeping force that could take over from the 5,200 AU troops from Uganda and Burundi who have said they are incapable of stabilising Somalia.

President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's western-backed government is battling Islamist insurgents in Somalia, including the hardline al Shabaab group, which Washington accuses of being al-Qaeda's proxy.

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