Two Men Charged with Recruiting Somali Americans for Jihad

The FBI indicted two men for material support to terrorism. The two are accused of playing recruiting roles in the well publicized case in which numerous Somali-American men have disappeared to East Africa to fight with Islamist militias. (NYT, CNN)

“The disclosure of the indictment, which was handed up by a grand jury in February, is the first public step in a sweeping federal investigation of more than 20 young Americans who are believed to have joined a militant Islamist group in Somalia, the Shabaab, that is affiliated with Al Qaeda.

The indictment states that one of the men, Salah Osman Ahmed, flew from Minneapolis to Somalia in December 2007 to “fight jihad.” Mr. Ahmed, 26, and Abdifatah Yusuf Isse, 25, have been charged with plotting to provide “personnel including themselves” in a conspiracy to “kill, kidnap, maim or injure” people in a foreign country.

The case drew national attention after one of the other men, Shirwa Ahmed, blew himself up in an attack in Somalia last October, becoming the first known American suicide bomber.

The indictments followed news that two other Somali-American men suspected of fighting with the Shabaab were shot dead Friday in a battle in the Somali capital. Relatives and friends reported the deaths of the men, Zakaria Maruf, 30, and Jamal Sheikh Bana, 20, both of Minneapolis.” (NYT)