MINNEAPOLIS — Terrorism charges filed Monday in Minneapolis
against eight men painted the most complete picture yet of how approximately 20
Minneapolis men were allegedly indoctrinated, recruited and trained to fight in
Somalia with a terrorist organization.
The eight, most of whom have fled the country, were also
charged with providing financial support and fighting for Al-Shabaab, which the
U.S. government identifies as a terrorist group with ties to al-Qaida.
The development, announced at the office of the U.S.
Attorney for Minnesota, brings to 14 the total number of local men charged or
indicted in the case, considered to be one of the most far-reaching
counterterrorism probes since that of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Four of the 14 already have pleaded guilty and await sentencing. Five other
Somali men have been killed, along with a Muslim convert from Minneapolis.
Ralph Boelter, special agent in charge of the FBI’s
Minneapolis office, said Monday that investigators all along have been
concerned about the prospects of American citizens with U.S. passports
receiving terrorist training and returning to this country, possibly to carry
out an attack on American soil.
He added, however, that the investigation here shows
“no evidence” that such a plot exists.
Boelter said officials decided to announce the additional
indictments Monday because they had “reached a tipping point” in the
case and had made substantial progress in the investigation.
Boelter stopped short of saying that investigators had
identified a “mastermind.” Instead, he said, “I believe we have
reached momentum and have reached the point where we will have full resolution
of this case.”
The picture painted in court records released Monday was of
young Somali men seduced by the cause of defending their war-torn homeland
against Ethiopian troops that had helped oust an Islamic government.
One of the key figures in romanticizing the fight was
Cabdulaahi Ahmed Faarax, known to local Somalis by his former name “Ahmed
Mardaadi” or his nickname “Adacki.” Faarax was one the eight men
indicted Monday and is believed to have fled the country.
According to court documents:
Faarax and others met at a Minneapolis mosque to phone
co-conspirators in Somalia in the fall of 2007 and discuss the need for
Minnesota-based fighters to go to Somalia.
The records allege that later that fall, Faarax attended a
meeting with co-conspirators at a Minneapolis residence, where he encouraged
others to join the fight.
He told them that he “experienced true
brotherhood” while fighting in Somalia and that travel for jihad was the
best thing that they could do.
Faarax also detailed his own combat on the Somali-Kenya
border, where he was wounded. He told the group that “jihad would be
fun” and not to be afraid. He said they would “get to shoot
guns.”
According to court records, Faarax was helped in the
recruiting by Abdiweli Yassin Isse, who also helped raise money for travel.
Isse was among those indicted Monday.
The documents allege that Isse “misled community
members into thinking they were contributing money to send young men to Saudi
Arabia to study the Koran.”
Six men bought the recruiters’ pitch. Court records say that
after arriving in Somalia in late 2007, the men allegedly stayed in safe houses
and attended terrorist training camps that included “dozens of other young
ethnic Somalis” from Somalia, other parts of Africa, Europe and the United
States.
The trainees were reportedly trained by Somali, Arab and
Western instructors “in the use of small arms, machine guns,
rocket-propelled grenades, and military-style tactics,” records say. They
also were indoctrinated against Ethiopian, American, Israeli and Western
beliefs.
One of the six men who left was Shirwa Ahmed, 26, a former
college student from Minneapolis who was killed in October 2008 in a suicide
blast in northern Somalia.
Ahmed was identified as a suicide bomber after investigators
matched a fingerprint from “a single finger” recovered from a truck
bomb site. Ahmed is believed to be the first U.S. citizen to carry out a
suicide bombing.
Ahmed’s death, and the disappearances of another 8 to 10
young Somalis in the fall of 2008, immediately heightened fears in the U.S.
intelligence community that other Somali men from the U.S. who left to train
and fight with a terrorist group might return to America as trained killers who
might carry out an attack here.
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Similar fears surfaced in England, Sweden, the Netherlands,
Canada and Australia.
In the months following Ahmed’s death, it was well known in
the local Somali community that Faarax had been to Somalia to fight, was
injured and had returned.
When confronted at a Minneapolis coffee shop by a reporter
in July, Faarax denied his identity or any role in the case.
Authorities questioned Faarax on three occasions about his
involvement. Each time, he denied going to Somalia and having knowledge of a
conspiracy.
Early last month, Faarax was one of several men in a car
that was stopped by the Nevada Highway Patrol. All said they were going to San
Diego to attend a wedding.
Two days later, Faarax and Isse were identified by a U.S.
Customs and Border Patrol officer as two of three men dropped by a taxi at the
Mexican border. Faarax and Isse told the officer that they would be flying from
the Tijuana airport to the Mexico City airport and displayed airline tickets.
A friend of Faarax’s said last week that Faarax had posted
on Facebook that he had made it out of the country and was “home.”
Isse also is believed to be out of the country, officials
said Monday.
Six other local men indicted Monday also are believed to
have fled the United States. They are Ahmed Ali Omar, Khalid Mohamud Abshir,
Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan, Mustafa Ali Salat and Zakaria Maruf, who relatives
say was killed in fighting in Mogadishu in July.
The eighth man indicted is Mahamud Said Omar, 43, who was
arrested two weeks ago in the Netherlands on suspicion of lending financial
support to terrorists and helping potential fighters travel to Somalia.
As news circulated Monday throughout the local Somali
community, the largest in the United States, leaders expressed both relief and
frustration.
“We knew all along there must be people calling back to
Somalia,” said Hussein Samatar, director of the African Development Center
in Minneapolis and a relative of one of the young men killed. “We guessed
it, that there must have been someone collaborating and assembling resources to
mislead these young men to leave the Twin Cities. We were waiting for
authorities to unravel (the case) and say, ‘So-and-so did this at this time and
at this place.’ “
Less satisfied was Abdirizak Bihi, uncle of Burhan Hassan,
18, who was killed in June, just one day before his class graduated from
Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis.
“This isn’t close anywhere to the big fish who were
responsible for masterminding the recruitment of our kids,” he said.
“This is nothing, actually. What does this do?”
said Nimco Ahmed, a former high school classmate of both Faarax and Shirwa
Ahmed.
B. Todd Jones, U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, said the
investigation is not yet complete. But he hopes the message to those who would
leave this country to fight in another is clear.
“The sad reality is that the vibrant Somali community
here in Minneapolis has lost many of its sons to fighting in Somalia,”
Jones said. “These young men have been recruited to fight in a foreign war
by individuals and groups using violence against government troops and
civilians. Those tempted to fight on behalf of or provide support to any
designated terrorist group should know they will be prosecuted to the fullest
extent of the law.”
Via McClatchy-Tribune News Service.
