The FBI is investigating how young Somali-Americans were drawn to fight with an al-Qaeda-linked group in Somalia, but there is no sign they are being trained as domestic US terrorists, authorities told Congress on Wednesday.
“Tens” of Somali-Americans, primarily from Minneapolis, have returned to Somalia to fight with the militant Islamist al Shabaab group that controls much of the country, officials of the FBI and the National Counterterrorism Center testified before the US Senate Homeland Security committee.
Reports of the young men vanishing from home in recent years and turning up in Somalia have fanned concerns that al-Qaeda, which has suspected leadership ties to al Shabaab, could be training them to return to the US and conduct attacks.
But the US officials said the recruits, including a 27-year-old who blew himself up in October, were destined for fighting in Somalia mainly against Ethiopian forces that withdrew in January after a two-year occupation.
“Some get there and become cannon fodder,” FBI national security official Philip Mudd said. “These folks aren’t going over there to become part of terrorist cells. A lot of them are being put on the front line and some of them, I think, have been killed on the front line, from the United States.”
“They are going to Somalia to fight for their homeland, not to join al-Qaeda’s jihad against the United States, so far,” said Andrew Liepman, deputy director for intelligence at the counterterrorism center.
He said al-Qaeda did not have strong organizational links to al Shabaab, despite the leadership ties.
The officials said they could not rule out that some Somali-American fighters could eventually return to attack, especially if they go on to Pakistan for advanced training.
Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman said he understood there may be arrests of suspected recruiters as part of a federal probe.
“There are ongoing investigations,” Mudd said. “It’s a significant concern to us.”
He declined further comment.
A Somali UN envoy, Idd Mohamed, said after the hearing that he understood the FBI probe to be focused on Minneapolis, home to the largest Somali-American community.
Many Somalis fled their homeland after factional fighting began in 1991; an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 live in the US.
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