WASHINGTON — The US Federal Bureau of Investigation is expanding contacts with Somali immigrant communities in the United States, especially in Minnesota, out of concern that terrorists may be recruiting young men there, The Washington Times reported Monday.
The newspaper said about young 20 men from the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area had disappeared in recent months and are thought to have joined Islamist rebels who are on the verge of overthrowing the US- and UN-backed government in Somalia.
The outreach effort began after Shirwa Ahmed, a naturalized US citizen, was killed in a suicide bombing in northern Somalia in late October, according to the report.
US officials also confirmed that a Seattle man suspected of being an Islamist radical working with an Al-Qaeda-affiliated group had been killed in a missile strike in Somalia, The Times said.