Al Shabaab’s American Recruits Updated: February, 2015 A wave of Americans traveling to Somalia to fight with Al Shabaab, an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group, was described by the FBI as one of the "highest priorities in anti-terrorism." Americans began traveling to Somalia to join Al Shabaab in 2007, around the time the group stepped up its insurgency against Somalia's transitional government and its Ethiopian supporters, who have since withdrawn. At least 50 U.S. citizens and permanent residents are believed to have joined or attempted to join or aid the group since that time. The number of Americans joining Al Shabaab began to decline in 2012, and by 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) replaced Al Shabaab as the terrorist group of choice for U.S. recruits. However, there continue to be new cases of Americans attempting to join or aid Al Shabaab. These Americans have received weapons training alongside recruits from other countries, including Britain, Australia, Sweden and Canada, and have used the training to fight against Ethiopian forces, African Union troops and the internationally-supported Transitional Federal Government in Somalia, according to court documents. Most of the American men training with Al Shabaab are believed to have been radicalized in the U.S., especially in Minneapolis, according to U.S. officials. The FBI alleges that these young men have been recruited by Al Shabaab both on the Internet and in person. One such recruit from Minneapolis, 22-year-old Abidsalan Hussein Ali, was one of two suicide bombers who attacked African Union troops on October 29, 2011. He was identified by his family as speaking in an audio message released by Al Shabaab claiming credit for the bombing. Somali authorities reported that 10 people were killed in the ensuing firefight. Ali is the third American suicide bomber. The first, Shirwa Ahmed, carried out a suicide bombing at 1 the Ethiopian Consulate and the presidential palace in Hargeisa killing 24 people in October 2009. The second, Farah Mohamad Beledi, carried out a suicide bombing on May 30, 2011, targeting a military base outside Mogadishu, the Somali capital, killing two African Union peacekeepers and a Somali soldier. Federal investigators have also looked into reports about whether another American was involved in a suicide attack in Mogadishu in September 2009 that killed 21 people. The identity of that attacker has never been confirmed. Additionally, Al Shabaab claimed that three Americans took part in its assault on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, on September 21, 2013. Al Shabaab named Ahmed Mohamed Isse of St. Paul, Minnesota, Abdifatah Osman Keenadiid of Minneapolis, and Gen Mustafe Noorudiin of Kansas City, Missouri as attackers via the organization’s Twitter feed. As of October, 2013, Al Shabaab’s claims had not been verified by American law enforcement. In addition, other Twitter accounts claiming to be Al Shabaab have suggested that other Americans were also involved. FBI director Robert Mueller said he was "absolutely" concerned that the young American men may return to the U.S. with their passports and attempt to carry out an attack on U.S. soil similar to the foiled plot in Australia, in which Somali-Australians allegedly affiliated with Al Shabaab planned to carry out a suicide attack on a Sydney army base after returning from Somalia. While there have been no similar plots in the United States to date, Al Shabaab's desire to expand its operations outside of Somali and its ability to attract American recruits, presents a significant threat to the U.S. Recruitment in the U.S. Al Shabaab, the FBI alleges, has made an "active and deliberate attempt" to recruit young American men both in person and on the Internet. "These young men have been recruited to fight in a foreign war by individuals and groups using violence against government troops and civilians," said B. Todd Jones, U.S. Attorney for the District of Minneapolis, who brought charges against some of the men. Mahamud Said Omar, a former janitor at Abubaker As- Saddique Islamic Center, a mosque many of the defendants attended, played a major role in recruiting some of the young men, according to the Department of Justice. In November 2009, Omar was arrested 2 in the Netherlands and charged in a Minneapolis District Court with providing the young men funding to travel to Somalia. He also allegedly visited Shabaab safe-house and donated money to the group for the purchase of AK-47 rifles for the Minneapolis men to use. In October 2012, Omar was found guilty of five charges related to his recruitment for Al Shabaab and was sentenced to 20- years in prison on May 13, 2013. The Department of Justice has found no evidence that the mosque's leadership was involved in recruitment. Two men who pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists, Abdifatah Yusuf Isse and Salah Osman Ahmed, claimed in their defenses that they were recruited in Minneapolis to join Al Shabaab. In a motion filed by Isse's lawyer, he said the recruitment happened "at a place of worship." Ahmed reportedly admitted that he attended "secret meetings" beginning in October 2007. Isse and Ahmed were both sentenced to 3-years in prison on May 14, 2013. Cabdulaahi Ahmed Faarax, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Minneapolis who the Department of Justice alleges previously fought "jihad" in Somalia, held meetings at private residences and a mosque where described his experiences in Somalia as "true brotherhood." There is also concern that some American recruits return to the United States after spending time in Somalia with the goal of radicalizing others. After having been trained by Al Shabaab, they are able to assimilate back into their home communities, particularly in Minnesota, and “pose a significant threat” according to local law enforcement. Young American men have also been targeted for recruitment by Al Shabaab through propaganda videos posted on the Internet. Omar Hammami, an Alabama native who became the public face and voice of Al Shabaab, has appeared in several videos urging foreigners "to come and live the life of a mujahid." After an ambush shown in a March 2009 video, Hammami, who is identified in the video as Abu Mansour al Amriki (Arabic for "Abu Mansour the American"), praised a killed fighter as a martyr and said, "We need more like him, so if you can encourage more of your children and more of your neighbors and anyone around you to send people like him to this jihad, it would be a great asset for us." Hammami 3 also maintained an active Twitter feed with which he regularly interacted with Americans. Hammami has since become a cautionary tale for supporters of Al Shabaab. In March 2012 it became clear that he was in an open and public conflict with Al Shabaab’s leadership, primarily over differences between a global and local view of Shabaab’s mission. That same month, Hammami publicly declared that he fears that “my life may be endangered by [Al Shabaab] due to some differences that occurred between us regarding matters of the Shariah and matters of strategy.” The conflict between Hammami and Al Shabaab leadership grew over the course of the year to the point where he publicly broke from both Al Shabaab and Al Qaeda on September 5, 2013, claiming that he was still a terrorist but was disenchanted with Al Shabaab and Al Qaeda. The rift culminated in Hammami’s killing on September 12, 2013, ostensibly by Al Shabaab’s elite intelligence service, the Amniyatt Mukhabarat. Al Shabaab has put together numerous additional videos with the goal of recruiting Americans. In April 2009, two men who identified themselves as Abu Muslim and Abu Yaxye appeared in another video claiming to be "Somali youth" from the United States who joined Al Shabaab. "We came from the U.S. with a good life and a good education, but we came to fight alongside our brothers of Al Shabaab…to be killed for the sake of God," Abu Muslim reportedly said in the video. Later in the video, Abu Yaxye added, "We are here to invite others to come and join us." Another video, released in August 2013, is specifically focused on the large Somali-American populations of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Titled “The Path to Paradise: From the Twin Cities to the Land of the Two Migrations,” it presents a standard Islamist narrative of the obligation to fight and then focuses on the importance of leaving the US to join Al Shabaab, including personal narratives by different individuals who have made the trip. One of the featured jihadists, named Muhammed, tells viewers, “This is the best place to be, honestly.… If you guys only knew how much fun we have over here – this is the real Disneyland.” He concludes by urging, “Everyone who is a real Muslim…who really wants to serve in the cause of Allah…come here and join us so that we can die for the sake of Allah.” In 2014, Al Shabaab began calling for homegrown attacks against the U.S. in its videos as well. A video released in May 2014 presented Muslims living abroad with two options: undertaking a “lone wolf mission” in their home countries or traveling abroad to join the group. And a video released in February 2015 called on Image from 2015 video calling for attacks on Western shopping centers 4 followers to attack “American and Jewish-owned shopping centers across the world,” with specific threats directed at “the Mall of America in Minnesota, or the West Edmonton Mall in Canada, or in London’s Oxford Street, or any of the hundred or so Jewish-owned Westfield shopping centers.” Prior to leaving Minnesota, several of the men who trained with Al Shabaab reportedly listened to a sermon titled "Constants on the Path of Jihad" given by Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born Muslim cleric living in Yemen who targets English-speaking Muslim audiences with radical online lectures that encourage attacks against the West and non-Muslims.