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An Eden Prairie High School graduate pleaded guilty Monday to providing material support to Al-Shabab, a Somali group designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government. Ahmed Hussein Mahamud, 27, now living in Westerville, Ohio, admitted to raising up to $1,500 under false pretenses to help send Al-Shabab recruits from the Twin Cities to Somalia. He also admitted that he and two co-conspirators wired $200 of those funds to Somalia so someone he knew there could buy guns. Mahamud, a Somali native and naturalized U.S. citizen, faces up to 15 years for his role in the conspiracy when he...

At a mid-town Wells Fargo bank a large group of Minnesota Somalis gathered Friday to remove their money from the bank and protest. The group says Wells Fargo has been unwilling to work with them to get money to Somalia. Last December more than a dozen Twin Cities businesses known as Hawalas stopped offering money transfers to the east African Country. They stopped because of provisions aimed at keeping funds out of the hands of terrorists. “This is a humanitarian crisis,” said Abdirahman Muse, a former Wells Fargo customer. “Hawalas are the only way we can send money to our...

Somali officials said Friday they are pleading with U.S. authorities to persuade banks to reconsider a decision to block money transfers from Minnesota's Somali community to relatives in this Horn of Africa nation, where anarchy has given safe haven to an al-Qaida linked terror group. The institution that handles the bulk of money transfers from Minnesota to Somalia — Sunrise Community Banks — has said it will discontinue the service at the end of December over fears it could be at risk of violating government rules intended to clamp down on the financing of terror groups. Minnesota political leaders Rep....

A gang of Muslim girls who repeatedly kicked a young woman in the head walked free from court after a judge heard they were 'not used to being drunk' because of their religion. The group screamed 'kill the white slag' while kicks raining in on 22-year-old Rhea Page as she lay motionless on the ground, the court heard. The attackers - three sisters and their cousin - were told by a judge that normally they would have been sent to jail. However, he handed the girls - all Somalian Muslims - suspended sentences after hearing that they were not used...

Two men have been charged in connection with an attempted robbery at gunpoint in the University of Minnesota area. According to the criminal complaint, Abdulkadir Ahmed Farah-Hassan and Tarambi Abdi Dahir, both 28, were arrested on Nov. 6 along with a third person. Police said they were called to the 700 block of 8th Avenue Southeast on report of a robbery. The criminal complaint says the victim was walking in the area when three men approached him, asking for directions to McDonald’s. They followed the victim and asked for directions multiple times. Eventually, once the victim arrived at his residence,...

A federal jury Thursday convicted two Rochester women of conspiring to help an Al-Qaida affiliate in their native Somalia under the guise of raising money for the poor. Amina Farah Ali, 35, and Hawo Mohamed Hassan, 64, were the first people to go on trial in connection with a sweeping federal investigation into alleged recruitment and fundraising activities in Minnesota for Al-Shabab -- classified by U.S. authorities in February 2008 as a foreign terrorist organization. Under U.S. law, it is illegal to support a foreign terrorist group. Both were found guilty on all counts. Al-Shabab and other militia groups are...

The World Food Program can't reach 2.2 million Somalis in desperate need of aid in militant-controlled areas of Somalia, WFP's director said Saturday, meaning refugee camps in nearby Kenya and Ethiopia are likely to continue seeing thousands of new refugees each week. SNIP Al-Shabab signaled in early July that it would accept aid groups it had previously banned, but changed course on Thursday, saying groups like WFP are not welcome. The group's refusal to accept aid from Western and "Christian" aid groups means millions could starve — or be forced to begin the hike to help to Kenya, Ethiopia or...

To Omer Abdi Mohamed, raising money to send other young men to Somalia, to train and arm them with assault rifles to fight there, had nothing to do with terrorism. In late 2007, he said, it was about defending his homeland against Ethiopians. One problem: It was still illegal, federal officials say. On Monday, Mohamed agreed, pleading guilty in federal court in Minneapolis to a single count of conspiracy to "murder, kidnap or maim" Ethiopian and Somali troops. His plea came of the eve of his trial. He would have been the first of 21 local people of Somali descent...

A group of Minneapolis-area Somalis, including some who traveled to their homeland to allegedly take up arms against the Ethiopian army, held secret meetings in 2007 to plan the trips, created fake itineraries to fool family members and challenged one another about their commitment, prosecutors contend in a court filing. The document was filed this week in advance of a trial for one man accused of being part of the conspiracy. It sheds new light on how the recruiting operation worked in Minneapolis and how some of the men arrived at safehouses in Somalia, where they received AK-47s and weapons...

A Minneapolis man, Omer Abdi Mohamed, is scheduled to go on trial next week in federal court on charges that he aided a group of young American Somali men in their travels to Somalia to fight with the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab terrorist organization. Two of the men that Mohamed helped leave the country conducted suicide bombings, the most recent last month which I reported on exclusively here at PJMedia. In fact, over the past few years more than two dozen Somali men from the U.S. are known to have left for the fields of jihad in Somalia. But just as that...

Nearly three years ago, a Minneapolis man blew himself up oceans away in Somalia. His death put Minnesota at the heart of a still unfolding multinational counterterrorism probe that has seen 20 Minnesotans indicted on terror-related charges, at least another nine killed in fighting overseas and a handful more arrested and convicted. Others have been charged with fundraising or wiring money to a terror group in Somalia, and one of the men charged is scheduled to go on trial next month -- a first in the case. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder visited Minneapolis last month to reaffirm his office's...

Tuesday night the city of Shelbyville will be in the national spotlight when the film "Welcome to Shelbyville" is broadcast on the PBS series Independent Lens. Since last fall, the documentary has been screened across the country, including Nashville last Saturday and has been shown by the U.S. State Department in other countries. Said filmmaker Kim A. Snyder, "I was interested in something that would illustrate "the anatomy" of immigrant integration in one small town and how this was representative of demographic changes taking place across the U.S." This was the premise the filmmaker explained to the Times-Gazette and the...

Jihad Returns to America By: Robert Spencer FrontPageMagazine.com | Thursday, June 04, 2009 Jihad came once again to American soil on Monday, when an American convert to Islam, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, began shooting at soldiers who were standing outside the Army-Navy Career Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. Muhammad murdered Pvt. William Long, 23, and gravely wounded Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula, 18. Muhammad was charged with capital murder and – in a departure from authorities’ practically reflexive dismissal of terrorism as a factor in virtually any act of violence by a Muslim -- sixteen counts of committing a terrorist act. Rather curiously,...

MINNEAPOLIS - While investigating whether two Rochester women were funneling money to a terror group in Somalia, FBI agents sifted through the trash of an apartment complex roughly 90 times, intercepted and recorded 30,000 phone calls and interviewed suspects more than once. Details revealed in court Thursday hint at the scope and complexity of the investigation into Amina Farah Ali and Hawo Mohamed Hassan, two women who prosecutors say were part of a "deadly pipeline" routing money and fighters from the U.S. to al-Shabab. Ali, 34, and Hassan, 60, will face trial Oct. 3 on multiple charges, including conspiracy to...

Two more cases of measles were confirmed overnight Thursday, as state health officials scramble to contain an outbreak of the disease among children who have not been vaccinated. So far, six cases have been reported in Minneapolis in the last two months, half of them in members of the Somali community, Dr. Ruth Lynfield, the state epidemiologist, said Friday. Until this outbreak, only six cases had been reported in Minnesota in the past five years. As a result, health officials are working with leaders in the Somali community to try to head off any wider spread.

NORFOLK, VA—Five men from Somalia were sentenced today to life followed by a consecutive 80 years in prison for engaging in piracy and related offenses in their attack on the USS Nicholas. Neil H. MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Janice K. Fedarcyk, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office; Alex J. Turner, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office; and Mark Russ, Special Agent in Charge of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) in Norfolk, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge Mark S. Davis. “Today...

The remains of the other two Americans slain by Somali pirates have also arrived, a US Navy Central Command representative tells Santa Monica Patch. The remains of the four Americans who were slain by Somali pirates earlier this week have arrived back in the United States, a US Navy Central Command representative told Santa Monica Patch on Friday morning. The remains had been aboard the USS Enterprise off the coast of Somalia, a U.S. Navy Central Command spokesman said Tuesday. Meanwhile, also on Friday morning, Department of Justice spokesman Dean Boyd said, "The Justice Deptartment and the FBI continue to...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22, 2011 – Somali pirates killed all four Americans they had held hostage aboard a sailing vessel in the Indian Ocean this morning, U.S. Central Command officials announced. U.S. officials were negotiating with the pirates for the safe return of the captured Americans when the murders took place, officials said. Centcom officials said that in the midst of negotiations, U.S. forces responded to gunfire aboard the S/V Quest. When the forces reached the boat, officials said, they discovered all four hostages had been shot by their captors. Despite immediate steps to provide life-saving care, all four hostages ultimately...

A feisty prosecutor and passionate cop go after Minnesota-Somali gangs. It took a never-give-up attitude to build the case of a Somali runaway into a massive human trafficking prosecution.

A Tyson Foods spokesperson stated Wednesday that while graffiti was recently discovered at their Shelbyville facility, media reports about the details are not factual. However the spokesman also stated that federal authorities have been contacted about the matter. Late last week, Shelbyville police began providing an armed off-duty officer for the Tyson Foods facility after alleged threatening messages reportedly were made. Nashville television station WSMV reported claims made by an unidentified woman that someone wrote "all Americans must die" on a bathroom wall -- an act that was reportedly preceded by a fire in a woman's restroom inside the plant...

Residents who knew Mohamud say there might have been warning signs leading up to a Somali teenager’s arrest in connection with a plot to bomb the annual tree-lighting ceremony. "He would always talk about the movie ‘Black Hawk Down,’ saying, 'We beat your country, F white people' when he got mad"

The Shelbyville chief of police and a former Tyson employee confirmed that threatening messages surfaced this week, leading to extra security at the plant. "A couple days ago, they had a terrorist threat that was written on the bathroom walls that said 'all Americans must die,'" said a woman, who said she wanted to remain anonymous to protect her relative, who works inside the plant. She said that she didn't see the writing herself but is aware of what's going on from others. "One day last week, someone set the women's bathroom on fire, and they finally put a security...

(CathNews) Santa will not be visiting students in St. Peter, Minnesota this year. Muslim immigrants got him cancelled. The MinnPost reported, via Pat Dollard: Santa Claus, as portrayed by Dennis Jackson, won’t be visiting students at the Head Start classes in St. Peter this year. Jackson has made appearances the past four years at the classes for students who need help preparing for school, but this year officials said, “No, no, no.” The reason: The classes have many immigrant children who don’t celebrate Christmas, says the Mankato Free Press. Santa’s a little frosted, the paper says. It kind of burnt...

Nearly one in three people with Somali ancestry in the United States live in Minnesota, although some activists claim there are more. The 1 in 3 estimate comes from new survey data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. The bureau's American Community Survey says there are about 25,000 people with Somali ancestry in Minnesota and about 85,700 in the United States. The other states with large Somali populations are Ohio, Washington and California, but their communities are much smaller than Minnesota's.

Possessing the plant khat is illegal under Minnesota law, and prosecuting violators does not infringe on their religious freedom, the state Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday. The euphoria-producing plant is popular in East African nations and among that region's immigrants in the Twin Cities. Some of their advocates say prosecuting them for possessing it unfairly brands them as criminals and makes them more susceptible to recruitment by terrorists. The ruling marks the third time that Minnesota's appellate courts have found khat (pronounced "cot") to be illegal, although it is unlikely to be the last word. The latest case started in...

Five Somalis facing piracy charges were simple fishermen kidnapped, and at times blindfolded, by war lords and forced to take part in attacks on vessels in the Indian Ocean, their attorneys told a jury in federal court today. But to convince the jury that they’re innocent of trying to attack the Navy frigate Nicholas on April 1, they will have to somehow overcome their own words – confessions they gave to U.S. officials. Some wondered why the Somalis had the same rights as U.S. citizens... The Nicholas was on counter-piracy patrol more than 500 miles off the east African coast...

Twenty-nine people have been indicted in a sex trafficking ring in which Somali gangs in Minneapolis allegedly forced girls under age 14 into prostitution in Minnesota, Tennessee, Ohio and other unnamed places, according to an indictment unsealed Monday. The indictment, unsealed in U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Tennessee, said one of the gangs' goals was recruiting females under age 18, including some under age 14, and forcing them into prostitution in exchange for cash, drugs or other items. The indictment claims three Minneapolis-based gangs were involved _ The Somali Outlaws, the Somali Mafia and the Lady Outlaws...

Remember the news report in May about "Other Than Mexicans" (OTMs) who crossed the border, with the Feds denying ANY terrorists had come in? Now the same stalwart reporters from Atlanta's WFSB have uncovered proof: Somalis from the terrorist group Al Shabob, smuggled in by the hundreds and UNACCOUNTED FOR inside the U.S. No more coverups! The incoming House GOP must open hearings on this ASAP. And NO "comprehensive reform". No "DREAM" amnesty. NO immigration legislation can even be considered in the new Congress before border security is DONE.

"Mohamed and Omar Sufi owned Halal Depot" GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - Two brothers from Somalia who were accused of $400,000 in food stamp fraud and of illegally transferring money overseas from their western Michigan store pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges, prosecutors said. Mohamed and Omar Sufi, owners of the Halal Depot store in Grand Rapids, redeemed electronic food stamps for cash and nonfood items, taking 30 percent commissions, the government said. The men were accused of taking up to 50 percent from benefits under the Women, Infants and Children programs.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - An Indianapolis woman whose two children were found dead on Sunday is finally speaking out. Ebyan Farah, 28, spoke through her lawyers Wednesday night asking for privacy. “Ebyan Farah will have no public comment in this matter, except to say she is devastated by her children’s tragic deaths,” Farah’s attorneys said in a statement...

The United States was slow to take seriously the threat posed by homegrown radicals, and the government has failed to put systems in place to deal with the growing phenomenon, according to a new report compiled by the former heads of the Sept. 11 Commission. The report says U.S. authorities failed to realize that Somali-American youths traveling from Minnesota to Mogadishu in 2008 to join extremists was not an isolated situation. Instead, the movement was one among several instances of a broader, more diverse threat that has surfaced across the country.

Al Shabaab Terrorist banned women in areas under their control in Somalia to wear bra calling it as Un-Islamic, witnesses told TF.SF on Tuesday. The witnesses reported that al Shabaab young fighters were stopping women in Mogadishu especially areas under their control not to wear bra or they would face punishment from them.

Federal officials file lawsuit against JBS Swift & Co. alleging discrimination against Muslims and Somalis Muslim and Somali employees at two JBS Swift & Co. meatpacking plants in Colorado and Nebraska are alleging that the Greeley-based company fostered a hostile work environment that included blood, meat and bones being thrown at the employees because of their race, national origin and religion. Two lawsuits filed yesterday by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of the Muslim and Somali employees allege that in addition to having blood, meat and bones thrown at them by co-workers and supervisors, JBS Swift &...

RICHMOND, Va. - A judge on Tuesday dismissed piracy charges against six Somali nationals accused of attacking a Navy ship off the coast of Africa, concluding the U.S. government failed to make the case their alleged actions amounted to piracy. The dismissal of the piracy count by U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson tosses the most serious charge against the men, but leaves intact seven other charges related to the alleged April 10 attack on the USS Ashland in the Gulf of Aden. A piracy conviction carries a mandatory life term.

Note: Photo and Graphic Included. NOTE The following text is a quote: FIGHTING TERROR 14 Indicted for Supporting al Shabaab 08/05/10 Two Americans are under arrest and 12 other U.S. citizens have been charged with acts of terrorism that include providing money, personnel, and other material support to the Somali-based terrorist organization al Shabaab. Results of an FBI-led global investigation were announced today at Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, where indictments were unsealed charging individuals in Minnesota, Alabama, and California. Twelve of the 14 under indictment are fugitives believed to be in Somalia. About al Shabaab On Feb. 29,...

Two Rochester women of Somali descent are among a group of 14 Somali-Americans to be indicted for providing support to a Somali terror organization with ties to al-Qaida. Amina Farah Ali and Hawo Mohamed Hassan, both naturalized American citizens, have been charged with providing financial support to Al-Shabab, a group that has been fighting to establish an Islamic state in Somalia. The U.S. State Department has classified Al-Shabab as a terrorist organization. The women were arrested by FBI agents Thursday morning, officials said. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said of the charges: "These indictments and arrests -- in Minnesota, Alabama...

Somalia—World Cup madness has come to this troubled nation, creating a dangerous cat-and-mouse game between fans eager to watch televised soccer matches and Islamic militants determined to stop them. The militia group al Shabaab, which controls most of south and central Somalia, has declared the World Cup un-Islamic and banned watching the games on television. By al Shabaab's logic, the World Cup interferes with the militant group's "jihad," to overthrow the government, because young Somalis are too busy watching the games to fight on their behalf. While the group hasn't yet laid out specific consequences for those defying the ban,...

APA-Mogadishu-(Somalia) Islamist militants of the Hezbal Islam rebel group have killed two football fans and arrested ten others after attacking a house where fans were watching the World Cup game between Argentina and Nigeria in the Huruwaa neighborhood north-east of the capital Mogadishu on Saturday. Residents say that heavily armed militants stormed a house where football fans were secretly watching the match, which has been prohibited in the Islamist-controlled regions in Somalia. “Two young men who tried to jump over the wall were shot and killed while ten others including my husband and my teenage son were taken to Islamist...

Representatives of two immigrant minorities believed to have been involved in Sunday’s group fight at Linnanmäki have sharply condemned the melee. The incident has highlighted tensions that sometimes emerge between Somalis and Kurds in Finland. Some Somalis have taken issue with the dress and habits of Kurds, who are often fairly relaxed in their interpretation of Islam. Dozens of young people with immigrant backgrounds took part in Sunday’s melee – mainly Somalis and Kurds. Kurds have said that there have been tensions between the groups before, because some of the Somalis, many of whom are devout Muslims, have been known...

SNIPPET: "An Aeromexico plane flying to Mexico City from Paris had to land late Sunday afternoon at Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport in Montreal to remove a passenger whose name is on the U.S. no-fly list, Radio-Canada reported. The man was escorted out of the plane and taken into custody by the RCMP."

Note: Video included at link. SNIPPET: "Now, law enforcement officials appear increasingly concerned Al-Shabaab members are trying to come back to America. But these members aren't disenchanted young men like Hassan, seeking to escape the terrorists' hold. Rather, the concern is that they are returning either to recruit more members or perhaps to plot attacks here." SNIPPET: "Al-Shabaab represents a "threat to the whole nation, all of the world," Ahmed told the IPT. "Everywhere they could recruit somebody they will try – Europe, North America, Australia, Africa…And they want to disrupt world peace." Ahmed warned that Al-Shabaab's main focus in...

The flow of immigrants to Minnesota is quietly reaching record highs amid signs of what could prove to be a profound and lasting shift in their continents of origin. For the first time ever, African nations are supplying more than half the state's legal immigrants. Four countries from that continent now stand atop the list. Arrivals are doubling and quadrupling from countries such as Kenya and Liberia even as numbers are tapering off, for a variety of reasons, from past immigrant taproots such as India, Thailand and Russia, federal data show.

Ann Corcoran of Refugee Resettlement Watch sent us the latest revelations about something we predicted last year in an NER article, “Foot Soldiers of Islam": FBI and local counter terrorism authorities need to step up monitoring of the radical Somali émigré communities In the US. This is a vital necessity to prevent swarming attack threats from returning American Somali Al Shabaab fighters who evade capture by US immigration and counter terrorism authorities. According to an article in WorldNet Daily, the FBI has launched such an effort beginning with the Washington, DC metro area. We need a comprehensive counter terrorism strategy....

Note: This is a 4 page article. Read it all. Page 2: SNIPPET: "Gang history in Maine Portland Police Chief James Craig said publicly last month that one of his primary goals for 2010 is to dismantle two established gangs in Maine's biggest city - one made up primarily of young Somali men and the other composed of young Asians. Similarly, Lewiston has seen gang activity recently from a group of young Somali men. The crimes have been petty thefts and strong- arm robberies, but the attacks appear to be at least somewhat organized and often involve sticks or rocks...

SNIPPET: "An al-Qaeda-linked extremist group in Somalia has recruited more than 20 young people from Sweden to fight in the war-torn African country, the Swedish Security Service (Säpo) fears. Somali Islamic insurgency group Harakat al-Shabab Mujahideen ("Movement of Warrior Youth"), better known as Al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaeda, is thought to have recruited dozens of Swedish youth to engage in terrorist acts, according to Göteborgs-Tidningen." SNIPPET: "Gothenburg was identified by several sources as the largest recruitment base in the country, the report said. Sweden is also a fundraising hub for the group, according to Svenska Dagbladet editorial writer Per...

SNIPPET: "NAIROBI, Kenya, May 5 (CDN) -- Islamic militants yesterday killed another leader of the underground church movement in Somalia, sources said. Before he was fatally shot on Tuesday (May 4) in Xarardheere, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Jowhar, 57-year-old Yusuf Ali Nur had been on a list of people the Islamic extremist al Shabaab suspected of being Christian, sources who spoke on condition of anonymity told Compass. Al Shabaab, said to have links with al Qaeda, has vowed to rid Somalia of Christianity." SNIPPET: "Nur is survived by his wife, whose name was withheld for security reasons, and...

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- Eleven Somalis accused of attacking two navy ships off the coast of Africa appeared in Virginia federal court Friday shortly after being indicted on charges of piracy.

Federal authorities say they're certain nearly 300 Somalis allegedly smuggled into the United States by a Virginia man who admitted contacts with an Islamic terrorist group are in the country, but they can't find them despite a worldwide search for leads. The search, first reported by the Washington Examiner, started in early February after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Anthony Joseph Tracy on charges that he helped smuggle the Somalis into the United States from Kenya. The 35-year-old has since been indicted on charges of conspiring with Cuban Embassy officials in Kenya to help the Somalis illegally enter the...

The St. Patrick’s Day festivities meant something much different for the couple in their 80s from Minneapolis than for the other revelers at the local American Legion Post... Within days the couple would be returning home to a Minnesota suburb now changed forever by the huge influx of Somali immigrants whose behavior had forced them to move... “They are taught how to flush,” Marie (not her real name) said. She began to describe how the émigrés are taught how to use and flush a toilet, how to turn on kitchen faucets to get hot and cold water and how to...

NAIROBI, April 9 — For centuries, Somalis used poetry and songs to pass protest messages to powerful rulers they were too afraid to confront directly. Now, some young Somalis are using rap to speak out against Islamists who they say are using religion to wage war in their country. The 11-member Waayaha Cusub band, currently in exile in neighbouring Kenya, wants its rap lyrics to encourage fellow Somalis to stand up to Islamist rebels known as al Shabaab. They have handed out at least 7,000 free copies of their newly-released album titled “No To Al Shabaab” to residents in Nairobi’s...