The FBI believes that up to 15 Somali-American men from Minnesota have joined the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Middle East, and now one of them is talking. He wants to “bring back the caliphate.”
Abdirahmaan Muhumed spoke with Minnesota Public Radio last week and said that he is “happy” if Americans consider him a terrorist.
The Sunni terrorist organization has made massive gains in Iraq over the past week, even taking its second-largest city, Mosul. President Obama announced Thursday that he would be sending 300 U.S. special operations forces to Iraq as advisers to help counter the threat. The move comes after it was announced that 275 service members would be sent to protect the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
“It was really hard for me to believe because the guy seemed he was busy with his own life, trying to make it,” a friend of Muhumed’s told MPR June 12 of his turn toward jihad. “And [for] him to leave his family and kids, and just go to the other side of the world, that was really surprising to me. I’ve not really expected him to do that type of move.”
The new ISIL terrorist’s Facebook page messages assert that he is trying to “bring back the khilaafa,” to the world, a reference to an Islamic empire, MPR reported. Based on pictures and messages posted to his Facebook page, he appears to be fighting in Syria.
FBI spokesman Kyle Loven told MPR that investigators are trying to discover who is recruiting Minnesotans to enlist in the terrorist organization.
SEE ALSO: First American jihadist may have carried out suicide bombing in Syria: report
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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