Trouble in the Heartland

The FBI is investigating reports that up to 20 young Somali men from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area have secretly returned to their war-torn African homeland to wage jihad.

Tom Lyden of the Fox affiliate in Minneapolis broke the story earlier this week. He reported that as many as 20 Somali men, ages 17-22, have left returned to Somalia in the past few months without telling their families. Some of those families went to the FBI out of concern the young men were being recruited into jihad.

According to a subsequent ABC News report, one Somali man who left the Twin Cities blew himself up in a suicide bombing last month. Investigators are trying to determine whether the man, Shirwa Ahmed, set up a recruiting network that brought in the other missing men.

Today's Minneapolis Star Tribune has additional details.

Related Topics: IPT News

en