Minnesota Terror Suspect Surrenders in Somalia

A Twin Cities man identified as one of the Islamic State group’s most active terror recruiters – a former student at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis – has surrendered to Somali government authorities in Mogadishu, according to the U.S. Department of State.

Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan, also known as “Miski,” surrendered Nov. 6 in Somalia’s capital city.

“Miski, born in Somalia, is a lawful permanent resident of the United States and is in the custody of the Somali National Intelligence and Security Agency in Mogadishu,” a state department spokesman said Monday. “The U.S. Mission to Somalia is discussing this case with the Somali federal government. The United States does not have an extradition agreement with Somalia.”

Hassan is one of the FBI’s nine most wanted terror fugitives from Minnesota and is charged with providing support to terrorist organizations. He was federally indicted by a grand jury in Minnesota in 2009 and is accused of leaving Minneapolis to join al-Shabaab, a terrorist group in Somalia, the year before his indictment.

Prior to his surrender, Hassan reportedly was in contact via social media with the San Bernardino, California, couple who was killed by police after they allegedly shot and killed 14 people at a holiday party of government workers last week. More than 20 other people were wounded in that attack.

Hassan has been directly linked via social media to the gunman who was killed in May in Garland, Texas, after a shooting outside a cartoon drawing contest to depict the prophet Muhammad.

His impact on terrorism overseas has been less physical than philosophical, with tweets appearing to be his most potent weapon. The Counter Extremism Project says his Twitter account has been suspended upwards of 30 times, and attributes various tweets to Hassan, including one calling for a female Jewish prisoner in Syria to be slaughtered.

The nonprofit also attributes a tweet to Hassan, which references the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris in January, and states, “It’s time for brothers in the US to do their part.” It was posted ten days before the attack in Garland, Texas.

kstp.com