Somalis Leaving U.S. for Jihad

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2295537/posts?page=77#77

Audio file:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/www_publicradio/tools/media_player/popup.php?name=minnesota/news/features/2009/07/17/ellisonsafereturnofsomalis_20090717_64

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/07/17/somali_search/

SOMALIS IN MINNESOTA

“Rep. Ellison says U.S. trying to ensure safe return of missing Somalis”
by Laura Yuen, Minnesota Public Radio
July 17, 2009

SNIPPET: “St. Paul, Minn. — Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison said the U.S. government is trying to ensure the safe return of some of the young Somali-American men believed to be fighting with a terrorist group in their homeland.

Ellison said he has been included in classified briefings about efforts to bring the missing men back to the Twin Cities.

At least four Somali-American men from Minnesota who left to fight in the Horn of Africa have died there in recent months.

One of youngest, a skinny teenager from Minneapolis named Burhan Hassan, was trying to leave the fighting and make his way to the U.S. embassy in neighboring Kenya, according to family members. They believe a fellow member of the extremist group Al-Shabaab shot Hassan to death when the group learned of his plans to escape.

Congressman Keith Ellison thinks the U.S. should try to retrieve the Minnesotan men who may have been misled into joining Al-Shabaab and want out.

“We can’t have a knee-jerk emotional reaction,” Ellison said. “We’ve got to have an intelligent reaction. If a young person says, ‘I have been lied to. I don’t like these people. I want to get away from them,’ we should help them do that, as long as we know that does not create a public safety issue for Minnesotans and Americans.””

ADDING to post no. 77:

Blog:

attahleel.wordpress.com/

attahleel.wordpress.com/2009/07/17/nightmare/

###

http://counterterrorismblog.org/2009/07/renewed_focus_on_foreign_fight.php

“Renewed Focus on Foreign Fighters and Terrorist Threats in Somalia”
By Evan Kohlmann

SNIPPET: “The last few weeks have seen a renewed focus on the issue of foreign fighters—particularly Somali-American exiles—who are traveling to Somalia in hopes of joining the militant Shabaab al-Mujahideen Movement. A former Islamic Courts Union (ICU) leader-turned Somali president Shaykh Sharif Ahmed spoke directly to the issue on Sunday, quoted by CNN as urging, “the Somali-American community not to send their youth to Somalia to fight alongside al-Shabaab... I am saying to those young men from abroad: ‘Your families fled your home to America because of insecurity. You should not return here to ferment violence against your people.”

On the same day, the New York Times published a lengthy article on the recruitment of Somali-Americans by Shabaab, along with an accompanying video presentation with analysis from a host of various Shabaab watchers, including myself.”

(Added July 13, 2009)

Thanks to butthreeleftsdo for the ping to this post:

QUOTE:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2302440/posts

Plea Hearing for Minn. Somali on Terror Charge
KSTP.com ^ | 7/27/09 | AP
Posted on July 27, 2009 6:48:07 PM PDT by ButThreeLeftsDo

Attorneys for a Minnesota man accused of going to Somalia to fight with Islamic militants are expected to submit a plea agreement ahead of a Tuesday hearing in the case, according to court documents filed Monday.

A federal grand jury indicted Salah Osman Ahmed, 26, on charges of providing material support to terrorists, lying to the FBI, and conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim and injure. The indictment was handed up in February but kept under seal until this month, when Ahmed was arrested.

The documents filed Monday call for attorneys to submit a plea agreement ahead of a Tuesday afternoon hearing in U.S. District Court. A message seeking comment from Ahmed’s attorney wasn’t immediately returned. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment.

(Excerpt) Read more at kstp.com ...

Thanks to But Three Lefts do for the ping to this thread.

Quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2303083/posts
Second suspect pleads guilty to aiding Somali terrorists (MN)
StarTribune ^ | 7/28/09 | James Walsh
Posted on July 28, 2009 3:28:23 PM PDT by ButThreeLeftsDo

Salah Osman Ahmed, 26, pleaded guilty in federal court today to providing material support to terrorists, according to his attorney.

Ahmed, a part-time security guard from Brooklyn Park, is accused of traveling to Somalia in December 2007, allegedly to train with al-Shabaab, an Islamic militant group that federal officials say has links to al-Qaida.

Ahmed’s attorney, James Ostgard, said late Monday night that his client will plead guilty to a single count — providing material support to terrorists — before U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum. In exchange for the guilty plea, Ostgard said three other counts will be dismissed at Ahmed’s sentencing: Conspiracy to Kill, Kidnap, Main and Injure and two counts of giving false information to law enforcement.

Ahmed was one of two men indicted by a grand jury in February for training with al-Shabaab. Abdifatah Yusuf Isse, 25, of Seattle, Wash., also has admitted to federal investigators that he trained with the terrorist group. Isse has already pleaded guilty.

(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,546510,00.html

“Al Qaeda-Linked American Terrorist Unveiled, as Charges Await Him in U.S.”
Friday, September 04, 2009
By Mike Levine

SNIPPET: “Now, eight years later, he is professing to launch attacks himself and calling on others to join the fight, as terror-related charges await him at home in Alabama, FOX News has learned exclusively.

Abu Mansour al-Amriki — or “The American” — has become one of the most recognizable and outspoken voices of terrorist propaganda.

He has been in war-torn Somalia for several years, fighting the secular government there with a group known as al-Shabaab, which has ties to Al Qaeda and was labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S. government last year. Only recently has he taken on a starring — and jarring — role in al-Shabaab’s outreach efforts.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been looking into him for several years. In fact, a grand jury in Mobile, Ala., has already indicted him on charges of providing material support to terrorists, a source said. It’s unclear when the indictment was filed.

Al-Amriki first surfaced in October 2007, when Al-Jazeera TV aired a report about the “common goal” of Al Qaeda and hard-line militants in Somalia. The report described al-Amriki as “a fighter” and “military instructor,” but he concealed his face with a cloth wrap throughout the report.”

Thanks to But Three Lefts Do for the ping to this thread.

Note: The following post is a quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2332632/posts

5th Twin Cities Somali man is killed in war-torn homeland
StarTribune ^ | 9/4/09 | Richard Meryhew
Posted on September 4, 2009 8:09:02 PM PDT by ButThreeLeftsDo

A fifth Somali man from Minneapolis apparently has been killed in his war-ravaged homeland, a relative said Friday.

Mohamoud Hassan, a 23-year-old former engineering student at the University of Minnesota, reportedly died in the past day or two.

“It’s real bad news,” Hassan’s uncle said Friday night. “But that is what happened.”

The uncle, who did not want to be identified, said he didn’t know when Hassan was killed, but added that “it’s very recent. Today or last night.”

The circumstances of Hassan’s death were not immediately known.

Abdirizak Bihi, a community activist who visited with Hassan’s grandmother on Friday, said she learned of her grandson’s fate after receiving a phone call from a relative of another young Somali-American who left his home in the Twin Cities last summer to return to Somalia to fight.

That man had told his relatives in a phone conversation shortly after noon Friday that he was standing in a cemetery in Mogadishu and had buried Hassan.

(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...

ADDING to post no. 88; link courtesy of Oorang:

http://terrorfreesomalia.blogspot.com/2009/09/fifth-american-jihadists-minneapolis-mn.html

2009

“The Fifth American jihadists From Minneapolis, MN - Terrorist Mohamoud Hassan, 23, a student at the University of Minnesota Dies in Somalia”

PHOTO CAPTION: “Mohamoud Hassan, 23, of Minneapolis, was reportedly killed in Somalia Friday. (Image from Facebook)”

SNIPPET: “A fifth Somali-American Jihadists from Minnesota was killed in his east African homeland today while fighting with the Somali extremist group al-shabaab , according to a friend. Terrorist Mohamoud Hassan, 23, a student at the University of Minnesota, was apparently killed during heavy fighting between al-Shabaab and African peacekeepers Friday in Mogadishu.

A fellow fighter called at least one friend in Minnesota to report the news of Hassan’s death, and some young Somali-Americans were quickly spreading the word Friday night through Facebook status updates.

According to one source who heard directly from the friend who received the phone call, Hassan and others were on their way to break their fast for Ramadan when they were attacked.”

Thanks do But Three Lefts Do for the ping to this thread.

Note: The following post is a quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2334451/posts

Somalis in Twin Cities fear arrest in terror probes
StarTribune ^ | 9/8/09 | Richard Meryhew and James Walsh
Posted on September 8, 2009 4:21:29 AM PDT by ButThreeLeftsDo

Tension is growing within the Minneapolis Somali community as it awaits the next indictments in the federal probe of the disappearances of young men who became fighters in their homeland’s ongoing warfare.

So far, three Somali men have pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges. Now several others — who either know the men or were considering returning to their homeland to fight for a terrorist group — are waiting to learn whether they, too, have been targeted by federal investigators.

Stephen L. Smith, a Minneapolis attorney who has counseled up to 20 local Somalis questioned by federal agents over the past 10 months, said recently that a number of people have contacted him and expressed “a heightened sense of concern” that they may be in legal jeopardy.

E.K. Wilson, special agent for the FBI in Minneapolis, has declined to comment on the case, but it is believed that new indictments may soon be announced. Wilson has said that the investigation is far from finished.

(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...

quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2337915/posts

Sixth Minn. man reportedly dies in Somalia
MINNESOTA.PUBLIC RADIO.org ^ | September 11, 2009 | by Laura Yuen, Minnesota Public Radio
Posted on September 12, 2009 2:04:28 AM PDT by Cindy

Note: Photo included. http://images.publicradio.org/content/2009/09/11/20090911_troykastigar_39.JPG

SNIPPET: “St. Paul, Minn. — A sixth Minnesota man is feared dead in Somalia after joining an Islamic extremist group there. But Troy Kastigar stood out from his fellow recruits, because the Minneapolis man was not Somali.

Kastigar, 28, was a Muslim convert who apparently had no personal ties to the lawless east African country.

Troy Kastigar’s family received reports of his death within the past week, according to friends of the family. The circumstances of his reported death aren’t clear, and the information could not be confirmed by the FBI.”

(Excerpt) Read more at minnesota.publicradio.org ...

84 posted on September 12, 2009 2:17:38 AM PDT by Cindy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies | Report Abuse]

To: All
Quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2337915/posts?page=5#5

To: All
blog:

http://terrorfreesomalia.blogspot.com/2009/09/sixth-american-shabaab-jihadists-from.html

“Sixth American jihadists from Minn get killed in Somalia”

SNIPPET: “St. Paul, Minn. — American jihadists A sixth Minnesota man is feared dead in Somalia after joining an Islamic extremist Al-Shabab group shabaab there. But Troy Kastigar stood out from his fellow recruits, because the Minneapolis man was not Somali. Kastigar, 28, was a Muslim convert who apparently had no personal ties to the lawless east African country.”T

SNIPPET: “He told his mother that he was going to Kenya when he left the Twin Cities last November. But authorities and Somali community members believe Kastigar was part of the last wave of Minnesota men who joined the violent militia al-shabaab in Somalia. While some of the 20 or so men say they left to defend their homeland in a bloody civil war, Katigar’s motivations are less clear.”

SNIPPET: “Troy Kastigar was a Muslim convert who apparently had no personal ties to Somalia Before Kastigar left for Somalia, he acquired a lengthy rap sheet, filled with misdemeanors ranging from credit card fraud to driving after his license was revoked.

He is identified in police reports as white, but his mother claimed Native American heritage.

At some point, Kastigar converted to Islam and went by the Muslim name “Abdirahman.”

SNIPPET: “Somali-American community members say they occasionally saw Kastigar at the mosque, and more frequently at community basketball games or at the Brian Coyle community center in Minneapolis. Mukhtar Osman, a former student at the University of Minnesota, says he met Kastigar last fall across the street from the U’s Carlson School of Management. Kastigar was wearing a traditional Pakistani tunic, a tattoo on his neck, and a strange beard. He was in a car with three Somali young men whom Osman knew. Osman says it was the first and only time he saw the man who introduced himself as Abdirahman.”

5 posted on September 12, 2009 2:10:36 AM PDT by Cindy

Thanks to MamaDearest for the ping to this article:

MamaDearest pointed to this article:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iythdD9cmDA1nW_dXDM_x4r9ue2A

“More Britons travel to Somalia for ‘jihad’: report”
(AFP) – 5 hours ago

LONDON —

SNIPPET: “The officials have warned that the number of young Britons travelling to Somalia to fight in the war-torn country or take part in “terror training camps” is rising, the Independent on Sunday said, citing unnamed sources.

In particular, they are concerned about the number of people with no direct family connection to Somalia who are travelling there.

The number travelling there every year has more than quadrupled to at least 100 since 2004, according to the newspaper.”

Thanks to But Three Lefts Do for the ping to this thread:

NOTE: The following post is a quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2341509/posts

NPR: Slain al-Qaida suspect trained Somalis from Minneapolis
Pioneer Press ^ | 9-16-09 | AP
Posted on September 16, 2009 4:56:23 PM PDT by WOBBLY BOB

MOMBASA, Kenya — The mother of a top al-Qaida fugitive who was killed in a U.S. raid in Somalia demanded today to see her son’s body while a Somalia-based group claimed him as their leader and confirmed his death.

Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a 30-year-old Kenyan, was wanted for the 2002 car bombing of a beach resort in Kenya and a failed attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner. Three senior U.S. officials familiar with Monday’s commando raid confirmed he was killed.

Aisha Abdallah told the Associated Press she wants “to see the body of my son before it is buried.”

“My son has never been a terrorist,” said Abdallah, dressed in an orange and black headscarf in her modest, four-room apartment in this steamy coastal city.

Nabhan was a senior instructor for new recruits for a Somali militia called al-Shabab, according to National Public Radio. The recruits included a handful of young Somali-Americans from Minneapolis, NPR said.

(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...

A bit off thread topic, but fyi:

Note: The following blog entry is a quote:

http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/20060.htm

Pakistani Minister: Al-Qaeda Leaders Escaping To Somalia And Yemen

Many senior Al-Qaeda leaders are escaping to Somalia and Yemen, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said.

According to a report in the Lahore-based Daily Times, the interior minister said that Egypt, Sudan and Yemen-based Al-Qaeda groups were backing the Taliban and other terrorist organizations in Pakistan.

‘‘Some people are still providing shelter to Al-Qaeda leaders,’’ he said, adding that preparations for developing a new database of all foreigners entering Pakistan are underway.

Source: Daily Times, Pakistan, September 15, 2009

Posted at: 2009-09-15

Blog:

http://allthingsct.wordpress.com/2009/09/22/the-somali-youth-mujahideen-video/

“The Somali Youth Mujahideen video – allegiance to bin Laden”
By Leah Farrall, Australia

SNIPPET: “This video is a recruitment tape. Clear and simple. And they are trading on bin Laden to do so. It’s a win win situation and the tape will be successful too, in attracting more support for the Somali Movement. This much is already clear in the reaction to the video in militant circles.

The radicalisation of the Somali Youth Movement has concerned me for some time. It’s now not only hitched it’s wagon to brand al Qaeda, but is adopting the tactics seen in other insurgent theatres of conflict. For al Qaeda it is a plus plus situation. It doesn’t need to operate in Somalia in order to gain currency and power and influence from the events there. The Somali Youth Movement is doing this for it. As many of you would know al Qaeda has had a hard time operating in any sizeable manner in the country and has tried and failed repeatedly to establish itself on the ground. It no longer needs to. The movement has hitched itself onto al Qaeda’s wagon of its own initiative and for its own purposes. Linking in Osama like this makes it a more attractive jihad destination, and gives it the power and currency to compete for recruits against the many other theatres of combat.

It also internationalises the Youth Mujahideen. This has significant consequences and could see al Qaeda tap into it/subcontract out for external operations.”

This entry was posted on September 22, 2009, 4:14 pm at 4:14 pm and is filed under Somalia.

blog:

http://terrorfreesomalia.blogspot.com/2009/09/report-seattle-man-was-mogadishu.html

“Report: jehadist from Seattle Was Mogadishu Suicide-Bomber”

###
###

http://www.kirotv.com/news/21087986/detail.html

“Report: Seattle Man Was Mogadishu Suicide-Bomber”
Posted: 12:21 pm PDT September 23, 2009
Updated: 3:16 pm PDT September 23, 2009

SNIPPET: “SEATTLE — A Web site says a Somali-American from Seattle was one of the suicide bombers who killed 21 peacekeepers in Somalia last week, CNN reported.

CNN quotes an online Somali-language Web site as saying the bomber lived in Seattle until 2007.

The report could not be independently confirmed.”

###
###

blog:

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/198941.php

September 23, 2009

“BREAKING: Somali-American from Seattle carried out suicide attack on African peacekeepers
From Rahm at Terror Free Somalia (original report here):”

SNIPPET: “SEATTLE — A Web site says a Somali-American from Seattle was one of the suicide bombers who killed 21 peacekeepers in Somalia last week, CNN reported.
CNN quotes an online Somali-language Web site as saying the bomber lived in Seattle until 2007.

The report could not be independently confirmed.

An FBI spokesman in Seattle, Fred Gutt, told CNN that investigators are aware of the report, but he declined to comment about it in detail. When asked if the FBI was looking into the report, Gutt would only say “we have continuing outreach efforts with the (Somali-American) community.”

Federal agents have been investigating possible recruiting efforts in the United States by Al-Shabaab, a Somali group with ties to al Qaeda that the U.S. classifies as a terrorist organization.”

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.