Recruiting terrorists in the US

Charges Link U.S. Recruits to Somalia .ArticleComments (7)more in World ».EmailPrinter
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. Text .By EVAN PEREZ
Federal prosecutors charged eight men with recruiting U.S. immigrants from Somalia to join an Islamist insurgency there.

According to court documents unsealed Monday, the men organized a network in the U.S. that enlisted and financed about 20 young men, mostly from the large Somali community in Minneapolis, to become fighters with the al-Shabaab group, which is designated a terrorist organization by U.S. authorities.

Five of the recruits have been killed in fighting in Somalia, including at least one believed to have carried out the first suicide bombing by an American, according to U.S. officials.

The investigation is among several recently that raised concerns over the recruitment of U.S. Muslims by radical groups. Officials previously viewed the threat in the U.S. as lesser than in Europe, which has a large disaffected immigrant Muslim population.
"The national-security implications are serious," said Ralph Boelter, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Minneapolis office. "This is the closest thing we've seen to" the homegrown terrorism recruitment seen in the U.K.

Somali community leaders say the recruits appear to have been motivated by Ethiopia's invasion of Somalia three years ago and the recruits' desire to help the Islamist group oust foreigners.

Those charged include Cabdulaahi Ahmed Faarax and Abdiweli Yassin Isse, legal U.S. residents. An FBI affidavit filed in the case alleges that Mr. Faarax and others met at a Minneapolis mosque and at a private home in 2007 and that Mr. Faarax claimed to have fought in the war and encouraged other men to join the fight in Somalia. Mr. Isse, prosecutors alleged, described plans for a "jihad" against Ethiopians and raised money for airplane tickets under the guise of sending young men to Saudi Arabia to study the Quran. Both men left the U.S. via the Mexican border near San Diego and are at large outside the U.S., authorities said.

Also charged is Mahamud Said Omar, a Somali and legal U.S. resident, who was arrested earlier this month in the Netherlands for allegedly providing financial assistance to terrorists. Prosecutors have requested Mr. Omar's extradition.