Terrorist group recruits in Midwest

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By Lolita C. Baldor ASSOCIATED PRESS

As people crowded into the capital for Barack Obama's inaugural celebration, senior counterterrorism officials huddled in the White House situation room, frantically trying to unravel intelligence about a possible attack on Washington.

By the afternoon of Jan. 20, as Mr. Obama took the oath of office, the threat of a terror plot by the Somalia-based al-Shabab organization had been debunked, but the flurry of activity underscored growing worries about this Islamic militant group.

"I think they are a serious problem, and I don't think that we should be glib and take it lightly," said Theresa Whelan, deputy assistant secretary of defense for African affairs. "Are they the ones that are going to plan the next major terrorist attack in the United States and carry it out? Probably not. But could they provide some of the foot soldiers for it? Yes."

The State Department considers al-Shabab a terrorist organization with links to al Qaeda, something the group denies. Al-Shabab, which means "the Youth," has been gaining ground as Somalia's Western-backed government crumbles. The group's goal is to establish an Islamic state in Somalia.

U.S. counterterrorism officials say they detect a disturbing pattern, one that mirrors al Qaeda methods and could spawn homegrown insurgents and suicide bombers in the U.S.

Counterterrorism officials suspect that al-Shabab is recruiting young men from Somali communities in Minnesota and other Midwestern states, luring them back to their home country for terror training and creating cells of fighters who could travel to other countries, including the United States, to launch attacks.

Four months ago, a young Somali man left Minneapolis to become a suicide bomber. He detonated a bomb he was wearing - one step in a series of coordinated attacks targeting a U.N. compound, the Ethiopian Consulate and the presidential palace in Somaliland's capital, Hargeisa.

It was the first known time that a U.S. citizen was a suicide bomber.

In response, the FBI stepped up efforts to reach out to community leaders in the Minneapolis area, where young Somali-American men have disappeared and are thought to have traveled to Somalia to fight along with militants. FBI spokesman E.K. Wilson said that since the disappearances, the bureau has worked to expand relationships with community elders, religious leaders and others active in the local Somali population, which numbers about 80,000.

"We want them to come forward with concerns about their young people," Mr. Wilson said. "We share the same concerns. We want to help, and we need people with concerns to come forward with information."