Update Feds indict Minn. Somali-American Jihadists Omer Abdi Mohamed on conspiracy charges

St. Paul, Minn. — A Minneapolis man has been indicted on charges of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, in connection with a sweeping federal investigation into the disappearances of 20 Somali men. Terrorist Omer Abdi Mohamed was indicted on Nov. 17 and appeared in U.S. District Court Thursday. The indictment alleges that the 24-year-old and others "knowingly committed and caused" the travel of six men from Minneapolis to Somalia.
Mohamed, also known as "Brother Omer" and "Galeyr" was also charged with conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim, or injure persons in a foreign land. The indictment against Mohamed is one of the first major developments in the ongoing investigation. Authorities believe that over the past two years, the men traveled to their native Somalia to fight along with a violent Terrorist extremist group that the U.S. government declared a terrorist organization in February 2008. The indictment, returned by a federal grand jury Tuesday, provides the names of six men who Mohamed and others allegedly sent to fight in Somalia. The list includes Terrorist Shirwa Ahmed, a Minneapolis man who authorities believe became the first American suicide bomber when he allegedly detonated himself last fall in Somalia. Mohamed, a permanent resident of the U.S., appeared in court Thursday with his wife and seven-week-old son. He told the court he was recently laid off from his job as an employment counselor for the state of Minnesota.
At Thursday's hearing, a judge said Mohamed can be released from jail, but will need to submit to electronic monitoring, surrender his passport, and agree to remain in the state.
Until now, the question of who, if anyone, was allegedly recruiting the young men to one of the most deadly places on earth remained unanswered by federal authorities. Some community members believed the young men resolved to fight in Somalia entirely on their own.
Today's news follows last week's arrest of Terrorist Mohamud Said Omar, 43, in the Netherlands. According to the Associated Press, Omar is accused of purchasing weapons for Islamic terrorists in Somalia and helping other Somalis travel to the war-torn country in 2007 and 2008. The U.S. Is seeking his extradition and confirmed his arrest was related to the investigation into the missing men. But his brother, Mohamed Osman of Rochester, said his brother was too poor to have bankrolled any kind of weapons purchases for al-Shabaab Terrorist , the terrorist group that the young Minnesota men allegedly joined.
So far, five additional cases have been made public. Three men with Minnesota ties have pleaded guilty to traveling to Somalia to fight, a fourth has pleaded guilty to perjury and a fifth has pleaded not guilty to lying to federal agents. SOURCE: minnesota.publicradio.org
Somali terrorist financier is identified,Sources in the Twin Cities and the Netherlands confirmed the identity of the man jailed overseas