20 young Americans recruited to join group with al-Qaida ties

Charges Detail Road to Terror for 20 in U.S.

By ANDREA ELLIOTT
Published: November 23, 2009

Federal officials on Monday unsealed terrorism-related charges against men they say were key actors in a recruitment effort that led roughly 20 young Americans to join a violent insurgent group in Somalia with ties to Al Qaeda.

2 Somali-Americans Charged With Aiding Terror (July 14, 2009) http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/us/14 ... tml?ref=us
A Call to Jihad, Answered in America (July 12, 2009) http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/us/12 ... tml?ref=us
Mahamud Said Omar Indictment (pdf) http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/p ... msomar.pdf
Ahmed Omar, et al Indictment (pdf) http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/p ... /aomar.pdf
Faarax and Isse Complaint (pdf) http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/p ... faarax.pdf

With eight new suspects charged Monday, the authorities have implicated 14 people in the case, one of the most extensive domestic terrorism investigations since the Sept. 11 attacks. Some of them have been arrested; others are at large, including several believed to be still fighting with the Somali group, Al Shabab.

The case represents the largest group of American citizens suspected of joining an extremist movement affiliated with Al Qaeda, senior officials said. Many of the recruits had come to America as young refugees fleeing a brutal civil war, only to settle in a gang-ridden enclave of Minneapolis.

The men named on Monday face federal charges including perjury, providing material support to a terrorist organization and conspiring to kill, maim, kidnap or injure people outside the United States.

Law enforcement officials are concerned that the recruits, who hold American passports, could be commissioned to return to the United States to carry out attacks here, though so far there is no evidence of such plots.

“The potential implications to national security are significant,â€