Officials: Terror Worries Tied to Minnesota Somali Community

March 11, 2009

Author: Lolita C. Baldor

Source: Star Tribune

Wire Service: AP

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/congress/41076427.html?elr=KArks7PYDiaK7DU2EPaL_V_9E7ODiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

Senior counterterrorism officials say the East Africa-based terrorist group that is recruiting young men from the Minneapolis region has ties to al-Qaida insurgents, including those along Pakistan's ungoverned, mountainous border with Afghanistan.

In the starkest terms to date, federal officials are laying out their concerns that young Somalis who have disappeared from their homes in Minnesota are being trained by al-Shabab insurgents and could be tasked to return to the U.S. to conduct attacks.

While there is no credible evidence that the young men who traveled to Somalia have returned to plan attacks, "we cannot rule out that potential given the indoctrination and training they might have received in East Africa," said Andrew Liepman, deputy director of intelligence at the National Counterterrorism Center, in remarks prepared for delivery at a Senate hearing Wednesday.

J. Philip Mudd, a senior FBI official, endorsed those concerns, and said more individuals have been drawn from the Minneapolis region than any other part of the country.

Liepman and Mudd are scheduled to testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, along with representatives from the Somali community in Minnesota.