U.S. charges 14 with giving support to Somali insurgent group

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By Greg Miller
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 6, 2010; A05

Federal authorities unsealed terrorism-related charges Thursday against 14 people accused of providing funding and recruits to a militant group in Somalia with ties to al-Qaeda, part of an expanding U.S. effort to disrupt what Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. called a "deadly pipeline" of money and fighters to al-Shabab.

It is the first time that the Justice Department has publicly revealed criminal charges against two U.S. citizens, Omar Hammami and Jehad Mostafa, who have risen through al-Shabab's ranks to become important field commanders for the organization.

The indictments were unsealed in Alabama, California and Minnesota, the latter being home to the largest Somali population in the United States.

In Minnesota, officials said, FBI agents arrested two women on Thursday on charges that included soliciting donations door-to-door for al-Shabab, which the United States designated a terrorist organization in 2008. The other 12 suspects were in Somalia or were otherwise at large.

The indictments "shed further light on a deadly pipeline that has routed funding and fighters to al-Shabab from cities across the United States," Holder said. "We are seeing an increasing number of individuals -- including U.S. citizens -- who have become captivated by extremist ideology and have taken steps to carry out terrorist objectives, either at home or abroad."

For years, al-Shabab was seen primarily as an insurgent group struggling to topple Somalia's weak government and to impose strict Islamic law. But the group's focus "has morphed over time," a senior FBI official said. Al-Shabab has attracted a growing number of foreign fighters to its camps and has demonstrated a new ability to export violence, and it has been praised by Osama bin Laden.

Last month, the group claimed responsibility for bombings in Uganda that killed at least 76 people. A State Department terrorism report released Thursday said al-Shabab and al-Qaeda "present a serious terrorist threat to American and allied interests throughout the Horn of Africa."

Holder said none of those charged is accused of plotting attacks against U.S. targets. Most are accused of sending money or signing up for a war aimed at ousting the U.S.-backed government in Mogadishu. Even so, al-Shabab's ties to al-Qaeda and its ability to tap support inside the United States have caused concern that the group could be used to carry out a domestic attack.

"What it reaffirms is that we do have a problem with domestic radicalization," said Frank J. Cilluffo, an official in the George W. Bush administration who heads the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University.

The indictments follow the arrest last month of Zachary Adam Chesser, 20, of Fairfax County, who was detained in New York while attempting to depart for Africa. Authorities said he planned to join al-Shabab.

As part of a multiyear FBI investigation, 19 people have been charged in Minnesota with supporting al-Shabab. Nine have been arrested, including five who have pleaded guilty; the others are not in custody.

But the most significant figures indicted are the two Americans who have emerged as battle-tested leaders of al-Shabab.

Hammami, 26, is a native of Alabama and a key player in al-Shabab's efforts to recruit supporters in the United States and other Western nations, officials said. Hammami, who goes by Abu Mansoor al-Amriki, or "the American," appeared in a rap-themed video this spring that attracted widespread attention online.

"He has assumed an operational role in that organization," Holder said.

Like Anwar al-Aulaqi, the Muslim cleric in Yemen tied to recent terrorist plots, Hammami is seen as a "bridge figure" who uses his familiarity with U.S. culture to appeal to Western audiences. But Aulaqi is known primarily for his radical online sermons, whereas Hammami has earned credibility as a fighter in Somalia's civil war, counterterrorism experts said.

"This guy actually has operational experience," Cilluffo said. "He is one of the top jihadi pop stars."

Mostafa, 28, is also an increasingly important figure, officials said. A U.S. citizen and former resident of San Diego, Mostafa served as a top lieutenant to Saleh Nabhan, a senior al-Qaeda and al-Shabab operative killed in a U.S. military strike last year. Since then, Mostafa "is believed to have ascended to the inner circle of al-Shabab leadership," a U.S. counterterrorism official said.

Mostafa is believed to have met Aulaqi about a decade ago in San Diego, the official said, although it is unclear whether they have remained in contact.

The only suspects taken into custody were Amina Farah Ali, 33, and Hawo Mohamed Hassan, 63, both naturalized U.S. citizens from Somalia who resided in Rochester, Minn. The two women are accused of working with counterparts in Somalia to hold conference calls with Somali natives in Minnesota, urging them to "forget about" other charities and focus on "the Jihad," according to charges filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota.

The records indicate that the women collected more than $8,000 in donations since 2008. They routed the money to al-Shabab recipients in Somalia through "hawala" transfers widely used in Third World countries to move money and bypass traditional banks. Hassan is also accused of making false statements to the FBI; she had denied that she was involved in raising funds for al-Shabab.

Staff writer Spencer S. Hsu contributed to this report.

Somali American Terror Recruits Seen Posing Threat to U.S. - washingtonpost.com

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By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 4, 2009

The suspected involvement of a young Seattle man in a suicide bombing last month has refocused attention on the recruitment of Somali Americans by Islamist extremists in Somalia and the growing role of al-Qaeda, U.S. counterterrorism officials said.

The FBI is investigating whether the American took part in a Sept. 17 twin truck bombing in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, which killed 21 people at an African Union peacekeeping base, law enforcement officials said. If confirmed, he would be the second U.S. citizen in the past year to have become a suicide bomber and at least the seventh radicalized U.S. youth to die after joining al-Shabab, an insurgent group seeking to topple Somalia's weak government, U.S. relatives and Somali activists said.

Overall, Shabab has sent dozens of Somali Americans and Muslim American converts through training conducted by elements of al-Qaeda's Pakistan-based terrorist network, National Counterterrorism Center Director Michael E. Leiter said last week.

Although al-Qaeda itself is under more pressure than at any time since 2001, the threat from affiliated groups such as Shabab is growing, said Leiter and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III. In particular, such groups are providing al-Qaeda a pipeline of American and European fighters whose passports would make it easier for them to travel undetected and potentially attack Western targets, current and former U.S. officials said.

"The role of returning foreign fighters to the United States changes the nature of the threat to the homeland," Mueller said in written testimony last week to a Senate hearing into the evolving terrorist threat inside the United States.

Leiter's statement singled out Shabab and Lashkar-i-Taiba, a Pakistan-based militant group accused in the commando-style attack on Mumbai in November that killed more than 170 people. The latter "could pose a direct threat" inside the United States, particularly in collusion with al-Qaeda, although its focus has been on India and Afghanistan, Leiter said in written testimony.

Although Shabab has not launched attacks outside Somalia, al-Qaeda operatives might "commission" a U.S. strike, American officials said. They note that people trained in Somalia have been traced to several international plots, including one that Australia's police in August said was aimed at an army base there.

In the most striking recent revelation, U.S. officials confirmed that they think a key trainer of Somali American youths was Saleh Ali Nabhan, 30, a wanted Shabab leader and liaison to al-Qaeda in Pakistan who was killed in a U.S. commando-style helicopter raid Sept. 14.

Nabhan was sought by the FBI in the bombing of an Israeli hotel in Kenya and the attempted downing of an Israeli airliner in 2002, as well as his role in the 1998 al-Qaeda attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Shabab spokesmen said the A.U. bombing last month was in retaliation for Nabhan's killing. Shabab released a video Sept. 20 pledging allegiance to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and featuring a new, young American spokesman, according to private firms that monitor Islamist Web sites. The 49-minute video, titled, "At Your Service, O Usama," contained footage of a Somali training camp and showcased Omar Hammami, 25, a former University of South Alabama student.

"Any connection you have between American recruits and al-Qaeda trainers -- real senior, accomplished people like Nabhan -- that raises a lot of concerns," a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said last week.

"It's hard to tell where Shabab ends and al-Qaeda in East Africa begins. That's how closely the two are linked," another U.S. counterterrorism official said, adding that both "are intent on stepping up their terrorist activity in East Africa. . . . It's critical that we and our allies keep a close eye on them."

Abdirahman Warsame, a Bellevue, Wash., activist who runs the Terror Free Somalia Foundation, disclosed that he had spoken with the parents of an "Omar Mohamud" in Seattle whom federal agents are investigating on suspicion of involvement in the Mogadishu attack. FBI agents collected DNA samples from the parents, Warsame said. The bureau declined to comment about the investigation.

Several U.S. officials said it could take another week to confirm whether the man participated in the bombing. Witnesses said the bombers spoke English and drove two trucks with U.N. markings into the A.U. compound.

A nearly year-old FBI investigation into Somali American terrorism recruits is ongoing and "on track," said bureau spokesman E.K. Wilson. The investigation follows the departure of dozens of Somali American and other Muslim teenagers from Minneapolis, Seattle and Columbus, Ohio, as well as other areas, who law enforcement officials suspect were recruited to go to Somalia.

The FBI previously confirmed the death of Shirwa Ahmed, 27, a college student from Minneapolis, in a suicide bombing last October. Since then, U.S. relatives have reported the deaths of Burhan Hassan, 18; Jamal Bana, 20; Zakaria Maruf, 30; Mohamoud Hassan, 23; and Troy Kastigar, 28. Another man, Ruben Shumpert, an African American convert to Islam from Seattle, was killed in a U.S.-supported rocket attack.

The Justice Department disclosed this summer that three U.S. citizens -- Kamal Said Hassan and Salah Osman Ahmed of Minnesota and Abdifatah Yusuf Isse of Seattle -- have pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges and await sentencing in this country after cooperating with investigators regarding their training in Somalia and Yemen.

Overall, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said, "we've measured the numbers of Somali Americans that go back to Somalia to fight in the dozens."

By comparison, the number of Americans of Afghan, Pakistani, Iraqi or other descent who have gone overseas for training with groups related to al-Qaeda is "an order of magnitude smaller . . . in the handfuls," the official said.

Staff writer Mary Beth Sheridan and staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.

Several Dead in Somali Clashes, Possibly Including U.S. Jihadist - NYTimes.com

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By MOHAMED IBRAHIM and JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Fierce fighting exploded in this capital city on Friday night and Saturday morning, and witnesses said at least 10 people had been killed in the past two days, possibly including a Somali-American who had joined the insurgents.

One battle began on Friday after soldiers from Somalia’s transitional government attacked an insurgent base with mortars and machine guns.

“Soon after breaking fast,” said Fatima Elmi, a Mogadishu resident, referring to the evening Ramadan holiday ritual, “we heard strange noises of weapons and we ran into a concrete building nearby.”

The government forces pushed back the insurgents, who belonged to an extremist Islamist group called the Shabab. But by Saturday morning, witnesses said, the Shabab had recaptured the territory and once again remained in firm control of most of Mogadishu.

Among the dead was a Somali-American identified as Mohamed Hassan, 21, from Minnesota, according to Shabab fighters.

“We lost a martyr who was from Minnesota in the overnight raid,” said a Shabab foot soldier. He did not provide any more information about when Mr. Hassan might have arrived in Somalia or what exactly he was doing.

According to the F.B.I., dozens of Somali-Americans may have joined the Shabab jihadist movement, which American officials have accused of having links to Al Qaeda. At least one Somali-American killed himself in a suicide bombing last fall.

In earlier fighting, witnesses said that eight people were killed Thursday when insurgents attacked an African Union base at a former military academy. The deputy mayor of the city, Abdifatah Ibrahim Shaaweeye, told reporters in a news conference on Friday that as soon as the holy month of Ramadan ended, the government would drive the insurgents out of the capital.

“We will capture neighborhoods that are not government controlled,” he said.

Mohamed Ibrahim reported from Mogadishu, and Jeffrey Gettleman from Nairobi, Kenya.

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