Thread: Is this the second American killed fighting for ISIS in Syria? U.S. investigates clai

Somali immigrants refugees - not "homegrown" terror. Father of NINE? How many "wives" did he have and who is supporting all of the kids?
Is this the second American killed fighting for ISIS in Syria? U.S. investigates claims father-of-nine who became militant poster boy died in same battle as rapper jihadi
By SIMON TOMLINSON
FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 03:13 EST, 28 August 2014


Abdirahmaan Muhumed 'killed alongside rapper Douglas McCain last week'
Minneapolis father-of-nine had vowed to 'give up this worldly life for Allah'
Among a host of Somali-Americans lured to Middle East from Twin Cities
Muhumed is part of growing craze fuelled by ISIS known as 'Jihad Cool'
State department said no confirmation of his death, but are 'looking into it'
McCain was once employed as a care worker for people with disabilities


A second American reportedly killed while fighting for the Islamic State in Syria was today identified as a father-of-nine from Minneapolis who had vowed to 'give up this worldly life for Allah'.

Abdirahmaan Muhumed, 29, is believed to have died last week in the same battle as U.S. rapper Douglas McArthur McCain, who grew up in the same city.

Two sources have confirmed Muhumed's identity and said a picture of his body had been sent to his family from Syria, according to Fox News.

State Department spokesman Jen Psaki said the U.S. has no independent confirmation of the reports, but added that officials were 'looking into it.'

Muhumed was identified earlier this year as one of a host of disillusioned young Somali-Americans from the Twin Cities lured by ISIS fighters in a sinister new phenomenon dubbed 'Jihad Cool'.



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Radicalised: This picture tweeted earlier this year by journalist Mukhtar Ibrahim shows Abdirahmaan Muhumed who is believed to be the second American killed last week while fighting for the Islamic State



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Chilling trend: Muhumed was identified earlier this year as one of a host of young Somali-Americans from the Twin Cities who had been lured by ISIS fighters with a sinister new phenomenon dubbed 'Jihad Cool'

Neither overtly religious nor politically vocal, he appears to have been radicalised by jihadi rap videos, romanticised notions of revolution and first-hand accounts of the 'fun' of guerrilla war being pumped out online by the Islamic State.

Earlier this year, the FBI declined to release their identities, but confirmed that three-times married Muhumed was under investigation.

He was later pictured online holding an AK-47 aloft, with his right hand raised and pointing to the sky while standing on a Syrian hillside, staring defiantly into the camera.

Muhumed and McCain are believed to be the only two known Americans to have been killed fighting for ISIS in the three-year Syria war.

A third U.S. citizen - Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha - died in a suicide bombing against Syrian regime forces in May in the first such case of the conflict, but he had been acting for the Al Nusra Front, an extremist group with links to Al Qaeda.




Jihadist: Abdirahmaan Muhumed (pictured) is believed to have died last week in the same battle as U.S. rapper Douglas McArthur McCain, who grew up in the same city

THE GROUPS THAT MAKE UP THE SYRIAN REBEL MOVEMENT

• The Syrian National Coalition, which brings together myriad individuals and groups opposed to Assad, with much of its military prowess coming from government soldiers who defected.

• Al-Nusra Front, an aggressive wing of Al-Qaeda that is considered a terrorist organisation by the UN, the U.S and Britain.

• Syrian Islamic Front, formed from 11 Islamist militia, but dissolved in November 2013. Aimed to topple the Assad government and establish an Islamic state.

• Syrian Islamic Liberation Front, a coalition of Islamist rebel brigades that formed in October 2012. The group ceased operations in November 2013.

• The Islamic Front, a merger of seven rebel groups involved in the Syrian civil war that was formed in November 2013 following the death of Liwa al-Tawhid's military leader, Abdul Qader Saleh,

• The Islamic State - or IS, formerly known as the Islamic state of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). A Sunni jihadist group in the Middle East that, in its self-proclaimed status as a caliphate, claims religious authority over Muslims all across the world.

Journalist Mukhtar Ibrahim first identified Muhumed in June in a report for MPR News after communicating with him in brief Facebook exchanges during which, Mr Ibrahim told MailOnline, Muhumed told of his desire to ‘bring back the Caliphate (Islam State).’

According to Mr Ibrahim, Muhumed told him that if others consider him a terrorist 'he is happy with it.'
Muhumed wrote: 'Family is not gonna save me frm [sic] hell fire because muslims are getting kill[ed] and if I just sit here i will be ask in the [hereafter].’

In a Facebook posting on January 2 Muhumed stated: 'I give up this worldy life for Allah.'

The following day he posted an image of himself carrying the Qu'ran in one hand and holding a rifle in the other, with the caption 'Shaam' – the Islamic name for Syria.

He went onto state that ISIS is 'trying to bring back the Khilaafa' and that ‘Allah loves those who fight for his cause.'
In one chilling image seen and described by Mr Ibrahim and posted by Muhumed on May 8, the head of a dead man is held up to the camera, his mouth slighty ajar.

In a following image, his head has is bound with a yellow ribbon from the chin up, his eyes and mouth shut 'as if in preparation for burial'.

Mr Ibrahim said: 'This is all an extreme shift as far as his friends were concerned.

'About four days before he left he told a friend he was leaving for London, for a vacation.

'So to see this guy in Syria was a complete shock. To his friends he was a cool guy. His profile was far from a religious guy.'
Friends told Mr Ibrahim that Muhumed had been passionate about the politics of Jubaland, a regional administration in Somalia but they were, Mr Ibrahim said, ‘perplexed as to why Muhumed went to Syria.'



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'We're looking into it': The U.S. is investigating whether a second American has been killed in Syria while fighting with the Islamic State (pictured)

He added: ‘This (jihadist behavior) is not something new, we have seen men travel abroad from the Somali community before.
'But for them to go somewhere other than Somalia, where they don’t have any ethnic, cultural, or family connections. This is different.'

A recent report from the Congressional Research Service, American Jihadist Terrorism: Combating A Complex Threat, identified 'jihad cool' as a key factor in pushing young Americans to take up arms where once their sympathies might have remained inert and without expression.

One unverified propaganda video, titled 'IslamicState Work Out Video' shows masked men apparently going through an SAS style boot camp, while in testimonies, many posted on YouTube, leaders, recruiters and seasoned fighters deliver their potent message.

According to recent security research, such online activity is a powerful tool that increasingly 'prods an individual towards violence.'




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Douglas McArthur McCain, left, who died fighting in Syria struck up a high school friendship with Troy Kastigar, right, who died fighting for al-Shabab in Somalia in 2009


Earlier, the U.S. confirmed the death of Douglas McAuthur McCain, who grew up outside Minneapolis in the town of New Hope and most recently lived in San Diego.

A relative, Kenneth McCain, told The Associated Press that the State Department called to tell his family that Douglas McCain had been killed in Syria.

'We do not know if he was fighting anyone,' he said.

Investigators were aware that McCain was in Syria to fight with the militant group, said a U.S. official who spoke only on condition of anonymity.

Surveillance flights have begun over Syria on the orders of President Barack Obama, a move that could pave the way for airstrikes against the Islamic State group.

Last night, it emerged that McCain had once been employed as a care worker for people with disabilities.
The 33-year-old was killed in a battle last weekend after travelling to the Middle East to join the extremist group.



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Minnesota criminal courts records show McCain had a few minor traffic offences, including two instances where he was convicted of giving police a false name or ID in 2003 (left) and 2008 (right)

American-born rapper killed fighting for ISIS in Syria



But San Diego resident Justin Filly, 38, remembers him as a 'genuine, funny, laid back person' when he was employed as a carer to look after him and other clients with disabilities.

Mr Filley, who suffers from the genetic condition Williams syndrome, told NBC News: 'He was good at helping to make sure my bills were being paid and make sure I was safe.'

Yesterday, it was revealed that McCain had been a school friend of an Islamic convert who joined the terrorist group al-Shabab, it has emerged.

McCain, who had most recently lived in San Diego but grew up outside Minneapolis, attended the same high school as Troy Kastigar, who died in 2009 aged 28, while fighting for al-Shabab in Somalia.

Both men were said to have struck up a close friendship with each other during their time at Robbinsdale Cooper High School in the town of New Hope, where McCain graduated in 1999.

Kastigar's mother Julianne Boada told the NY Daily News: 'They both were sort of searching, it seemed like.



The Free Syrian Army claims to have found McCain's body after a fight with ISIS. McCain's American passport was found in his pocket along with $800 in cash

'It’s just like who would ever have predicted this outcome. For Troy, he was so bright again. It was really a path that was so wonderful to him.

'They had quite a few friends in school who were Somali immigrants and an African American friend whose family was Muslim.'

It has been reported that Kastigar converted to Islam three years before he travelled to Somalia and appeared in a video where he was lauded as one of the 'Minnesotan martyrs'.

Smiling and laughing in the footage, Kastigar called his battle experiences 'the real Disneyland' and urged other Muslims to come and 'take pleasure in this fun.'

He was killed in 2009 in the Somali capital Mogadishu, according to the video.

It is unknown when the pair last had contact.

It comes following the death of McCain, after pictures of his body, showing his distinctive neck tattoo, and his passport were shared by the Free Syrian Army.
His cousin Kenyata McCain, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that she had spoken to him as recently as Friday and 'he was telling all of us he was in Turkey.'
'I know that he had strong Muslim beliefs,' she told the newspaper. 'But I didn't know that he was in support of ISIS. I didn't think he would be.'
At an apartment complex in New Hope, Shelly Chase remembered McCain as a friendly boy who welcomed her nine-year-old son, Isaac, when the Chase family moved in some two decades ago.

Even though McCain was a few years older, the boys used to lift weights, hit punching bags and play basketball.
Both Shelly Chase and her son, now 28, fought back tears as they talked about McCain.

'I'm holding in the tears, I really am, because this is hard. He was a good kid,' Shelly Chase said.

'Someone must have persuaded him.'




ISIS are an extremist group currently invading Iraq from Syria in an attempt to establish a caliphate. Last week they brutally beheaded American journalist James Foley in a video posted online

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz3BiVQOLDC

Sources say second American killed fighting with ISIS in Syria identified as Abdirahmaan Muhumed
Published August 28, 2014FoxNews.com

VIDEO AT LINK


A second American reportedly killed fighting with the Islamic State group in Syria has been identified as Abdirahmaan Muhumed, of Minneapolis, two sources told Fox News late Wednesday.


KMSP-TV in Minneapolis reported that Muhumed was killed in the same battle as Douglas McAuthur McCain, who grew up outside Minneapolis in the town of New Hope and most recently lived in San Diego. The State Department confirmed McCain's death earlier this week, but spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Wednesday that the U.S. has no independent confirmation of the second American's death. "We're looking into it," she said.


A source told Fox News that Muhumed's family had been sent a photo of his body from Syria, but had not been formally notified by the State Department. Fox News was unable to contact the family.


A profile of Muhumed by Minnesota Public Radio this past June described him as a 29-year-old Somali-American who had been married more than once and was a father of nine children. MPR reported, citing the FBI, that at least 15 young men from the Twin Citites' Somali-American community had traveled to Syria to join Islamic State, the militant group formerly known as ISIS that has captured wide swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq.


In a Facebook messages to an MPR reporter, Muhumed wrote "I give up this worldly life for Allah" and "Allah loves those who fight for his cause." A picture posted on the social network showed Muhumed carrying a Koran in one hand and a rifle in the other.


Federal investigators believe that approximately 100 Americans have traveled to Syria to join Islamist groups. Most of them are disaffected young men targeted by recruitment videos like those one put out by the Somali-based, Al Qaeda-linked group al-Shabaab that praised Minnesota's "martyrs." One such "martyr" was Troy Kastigar, a high school classmate of Douglas McCain and a Muslim convert who was killed in Somalia in 2009.


Abdi Bihi, a leader in the Twin Cities' Somalian community, told KMSP that ISIS has recently begun trying to recruit young women from the Twin Cities to their cause.


"They are brainwashing them to marry them off to jihadists," he said. "They call them to help out as nurses, help out the wounded -- but the real catch is they will be sexually exploited."


While the jihadists may see fighting as a path to paradise, Bihi said the only thing young people who take that path will face is disappointment, possibly even death.


"What will not change is the pain and agony and suffering of the parents," he lamented.


Fox News' Catherine Herridge and Jana Winter contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014...isis-in-syria/

An American Who Died Fighting With ISIS Had Security Clearance At The Minneapolis Airport

• PAMELA ENGEL

• SEP. 3, 2014, 8:47 AM

Screenshot/Fox 9

A compilation of photos showing Abdirahmaan Muhumed.

The second known American who died while fighting for ISIS terrorists in Syria worked at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport while he lived in Minnesota, according to Fox 9 in the Twin Cities.

Abdirahmaan Muhumed, a Somali man, had a job cleaning planes for the airport — a position that gave him security clearance as well as access to the tarmac and airplanes, according to sources who spoke to Fox 9. Two former employees confirmed working with him at a subsidiary of Delta Airlines.

It's unclear exactly when and how long Muhumed worked at the airport.

Sources who knew Muhumed told Fox 9 that he was struggling to support his nine children in Minnesota, where he grew up, and that might have led to his decision to go to Syria and fight with ISIS.

ISIS has been recruiting foreign fighters using social media and propoganda videos.

The Somali community in Minnesota might be especially vulnerable to these tactics, according to community leaders who talked to Fox.
Minnesota is home to the largest Somali community in America, according to the Associated Press.

Foreign terror groups have been recruiting there for years. Somalis from Minnesota were thought to be involved in last year's gruesome mall attack in Kenya, which was reportedly carried out by the terror group al-Shabab.

Many in Minnesota's Somali community fled civil war in their home country.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/ameri...#ixzz3CHq0cU5L