The U.S. government on Thursday announced 14 people have been indicted on charges they provided support to the Somali terrorist group Shabab, shedding light on "a deadly pipeline" that has routed funding and fighters to the group from cities across the United States, Atty. Gen. Eric Holder said.
Most of those charged were U.S. citizens of Somali descent. It has long been known that young, disaffected Somali immigrants were leaving their homes in Minnesota and other states to fight for Shabab, a Somali Islamist army whose several thousand fighters are battling Somalia's weak transitional government. Today's indictments represent the U.S. government's most significant public response to that problem.
Shabab, which routinely beheads its enemies, has been branded a terrorist group by the U.S. and other nations, and in turn has declared war on the United Nations and humanitarian organizations in Somalia. The group claimed responsibility for a bombing last month that killed scores of fans who were watching a World Cup soccer match in Uganda's capital.
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The U.S. government designated Shabab a foreign terrorist organization in March 2008, and said it has ties to al-Qaida.
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It isn't just the US government that has stated Al-Shabaab has ties to AQ....leaders in Al-Shabaab said it early this year.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8491329.stm (Feb 2010)
Somali Islamist rebel group al-Shabab has confirmed for the first time that
its fighters are aligned with al-Qaeda's global militant campaign.
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