BREAKING: Somali suicide bomber was from Minneapolis

More than 20 young men have left Minnesota in waves since 2007 to allegedly join al-Shabab, which the U.S. says has ties to al-Qaida.

A total of 19 people have been charged in Minnesota in connection with the travellers and alleged terror financing. Others have been charged in San Diego and St. Louis with funneling money to the terror group.

In a Thursday report on the Somali Memo website, a media outlet that a terror expert says has an intimate relationship with al-Shabab, a man claiming to be Abdullahi Ahmed spoke with an interviewer about the impending Mogadishu attack. A translator who listened to the audio recording for The Associated Press said the man claiming to be Ahmed said he left Minnesota two years ago to join the jihad, and that he was happy about his upcoming mission.
The man said the suicide bombing had been planned in advance. He also spoke briefly in English, delivering a message to his "brothers and sisters" in the West: "Wherever you are, brothers, come," he said. "Come to jihad."

more [link to www.brandonsun.com]

Abdirahman Warsame at Terror Free Somalia informed us late last night that messages appearing on known al-Shabaab websites indicate that a suicide bomber who carried out on attack on AMISOM forces in Mogadishu on Monday was a Somali-American from the Minneapolis area. A twenty-two minute audio was posted on the Somali Memo website (article and audio have since disappeared) that included a segment of an English-speaking Somali speaker — apparently the suicide bomber — who encourages Muslims in the West to “die for their religion.”

Another article on Somali Memo identifies the speaker as Asadullahi Axmed “al-Imriiki” (“the American”), a 25-year old-from Minneapolis. The news is quickly being picked up by other Somali online forums.

more [link to pajamasmedia.com]

A man who carried out a suicide bomb attack at a peacekeepers’ base in Mogadishu this week was a Somali-American from Minneapolis, the militant group al-Shabab said Thursday.

The group identified Abdullahi Ahmed, 25, as the man who bombed the African Union base in the Somalia capital on Monday. The attack killed two AU troops and one government soldier. In a report on its website, al-Shabab said Ahmed moved to Somalia from Minneapolis two years ago.

more [link to development.postbulletin.com]