U.S. says men ran terror network

Federal authorities unsealed terrorism-related charges against eight men Monday, accusing them of recruiting at least 20 young Somali Americans from Minnesota to join an extremist Islamist insurgency in Somalia.
The newly named suspects make up one of the largest alleged terrorist networks in the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, analysts said. Assistant Attorney General David S. Kris said the government continues to investigate the alleged recruitment, and sources indicated that FBI and grand jury inquiries are active in San Diego, Boston and Columbus, Ohio, into the disappearance abroad of dozens of Muslim Americans since 2007.
The charges cap a year-long FBI investigation into the departures, most of them among men of Somali descent in their teens and 20s, to join al-Shabab, an extremist group with ties to al-Qaeda.
Al-Shabab opposes Somalia's weak but internationally supported government and seeks instead a fundamentalist Islamic state under sharia law. It has attacked Ethiopian and African Union troops, targeted neighboring countries, pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and used al-Qaeda operatives to train American recruits, U.S. officials said. The State Department listed al-Shabab as a terrorist group last year.
American officials said they worry that al-Qaeda operatives might "commission" a U.S. strike using al-Shabab's pipeline of American and European fighters, whose passports would make it easier for them to travel undetected, although officials have said they see no sign yet of such a threat.
Among those charged Monday was Mahamud Said Omar, a U.S. permanent resident arrested two weeks ago in the Netherlands. Omar paid for airfare and AK-47 assault rifles for several of the youths to join al-Shabab, officials said Monday at a news conference in Minneapolis. U.S. officials requested the arrest and seek his extradition. ..more...http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/23/AR2009112303999.html