Feds Probe Islamist Extremists' Recruiting in San Diego

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 FBI counterterrorism agents and federal prosecutors in San Diego are conducting a grand-jury investigation of Islamist extremists suspected of recruiting local Somali-American youths to attend a terrorist training camp in the Middle East and return to launch attacks on fellow Americans.
The FBI has interviewed dozens of members of San Diego's Somali community -- the fifth-largest in the United States -- and at least one Somali American has been subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury within the next two weeks, said Mahir Sherif, a defense lawyer who has consulted with the soon-to-be witness.
"I suspect they're looking into any kind of organized financing, material support, and/or indoctrination and radicalization of Somali youth," Sherif said.
FBI officials said during congressional testimony last week that there is no reason to believe Somali jihadists are about to attack in the U.S., but the recruitment of U.S. citizens by terrorist groups is particularly troubling because Americans would presumably have no problem reentering the country.The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in San Diego began the investigation after reports that Somali youths were being lured from their homes in Minneapolis, in many cases unbeknownst to their families, to fight in Somalia...more..http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2009/03/17/public_safety/455somali031709.txt