Federal prosecutors indicted a Sixth émigré Somali man in the Minneapolis Federal Distinct Court in a further development of the two-year FBI investigation of recruitment for Somali Al Qaeda affiliate, Al Shabaab. Today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune carried a report on this latest development, “A Sixth area Somali man is indicted in probe.”

The sixth suspect in the Al Shabaab recruiting ring indicted in Minneapolis by federal prosecutors is, Omer Abdi Mohamed. 

According to the Star Tribune report Mohamed is:

 an unemployed employment counselor and father of a 2-month-old boy, was indicted on charges of conspiracy to "kill, kidnap, maim or injure" people in foreign countries, according to an indictment filed Tuesday but made public Thursday.

The indictment, while providing few details, identified ‘targets’ of interest in the Al Shabaab recruiting ring as well as the venue, the extremist Abubakar as-Saddique Islamic Center in the twin cities:

The indictment released Thursday provides few details, but it links Mohamed to a broad conspiracy involving other men who returned to Somalia to fight or train with terrorists, including Shirwa Ahmed, a 26-year-old Minneapolis man believed to be the first U.S. suicide bomber.

According to the indictment, others connected to the conspiracy include: Salah Osman Ahmed, Kamal Said Hassan, Ahmed Ali Omar, Abdifatah Isse and Khalid Mohamud Abshir -- all of whom left the United States in December 2007 with a final destination of Somalia. Ahmed, Hassan and Isse all have pleaded guilty to the same charges Mohamed faces.

Wold said after the hearing Thursday that his client knew the other men through the mosque where they prayed. Isse Hussein, Mohamed's cousin, said Mohamed prayed "a lot" at Abubakar as-Saddique Islamic Center in south Minneapolis.

The two Imams at the Abubakar as-Sadiqque  Mosque previously placed on a ‘no fly’ list by the FBI have allegedly been released.  Mohammed’s bond was set at $25,000 indicating that he was not a flight risk.

Nonetheless, many of us believe this is tip of the iceberg of home grown Somali émigré Jihadis. Many of them possess US green cards and passports. They  could possibly become activated as terrorists in the US homeland that we have discussed in the NER article, “Foot Soldiers of Islam.”