TORONTO -- Several Somali-Canadian families are asking what happened to their sons after a group of young men apparently disappeared from Toronto two weeks ago. They left town without notice, and have not contacted home since. "They didn't even tell their parents," said Omar Kireh, administrator of the Abu Huraira Centre, the Toronto mosque where the men occasionally worshipped.A circle of friends in their twenties leaving town together might not ordinarily be cause for concern, but following recent events in the American Somali community, their disappearance has set off alarm bells.More than 20 Somali-Americans who similarly vanished from Minneapolis have turned up in Somalia as members of Al-Shabab, an Islamist youth militia aligned with al-Qaeda and often likened to the Taliban.One of the Americans died while conducting a suicide bombing and another is also confirmed dead. Their families blame extremists for radicalizing the young men, and RCMP Commissioner William Elliott said last month a similar pattern may be occurring in Canada's large Somali community.But almost two weeks after the Toronto men went missing, the RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service are still puzzling over their fate. Investigators have been showing photos of five men to members of Toronto's Somali community.Ahmed Gure, who runs the Ottawa-based Somali news website Hiiraan Online, said he had spoken to relatives of the parents. He said they fear the men have gone to Somalia to fight. "Of course, that's their concern," said Mr. Gure, who reported the story on his website on Tuesday. "They desperately want to get information about their kids because they are not aware of their departure."Mr. Gure reported that four Somali-Canadian youths were missing. At the Abu Huraira mosque, Mr. Kireh said he knew of three families whose sons were missing. Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2234227#ixzz0XCHoJBNJFour Somali-Canadian Youth Disappeared May Be Heading to Somalia
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