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US Officials Warn of Terrorist Recruitment of Somali-Americans

By VOA News
11 March 2009

U.S. officials are warning Congress about the recruitment of Somali-Americans to the Somali Islamist militant group al-Shabab.

Philip Mudd of the FBI testified to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security Wednesday. He said that since late 2006, the agency has seen several young Somali-American men travel to Somalia to train or fight on behalf of al-Shabab, and that one of them participated in a suicide attack in Somalia late last year.

He said the suicide attack adds to the concern that individuals may engage in terrorist activity when they return to the United States.

Mudd said the number of people the FBI believes have gone to Somalia to fight is "comparatively larger" than the number who have left the United States for other conflict zones in recent years.

Mudd said most of those individuals have left from the Minneapolis area in the state of Minnesota.

He described al-Shabab as "one of the most significant forces" on the ground in Somalia. The group is known for carrying out attacks on government forces and government allies in the east African country.

The U.S. State Department has classified the group as a terrorist organization.

Also in the hearing, a top intelligence official, Andrew Liepman of the National Counterterrorism Center, said Somali-American youth are believed to have been exposed to extremist influences in the United States, both in person and on the Internet.

Osman Ahmed, a member of the Somali-American community in Minneapolis, recommended more outreach to young people in such communities. He also called for careful scrutiny of Internet sites, non-profit groups, and religious communities that could be teaching extremist ideals to the young people they attract.

He said the young men are vulnerable to extremist influences because of the difficulties they face as immigrants: language barriers, prejudice, and difficulty assimilating to American culture.