By Patrick Poole
Monday, December 22, 2014
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A claim that a jihadist from Minneapolis has been killed in the fighting surrounding the city of Kobane is currently circulating on Twitter.These two tweets appeared yesterday:
Allahu Akbar, a young Somali brother I used to know back in Minnesota got Martyred in Kobane. His older brother is with me. Taqabalahu llaah
— Mujahid Miski (@Muhajir_1436_) December 21, 2014The bro who got Shahadah in Kobane is Yusuf from Minneapolis, Minnesota. His brother is Ahmed Bashi he's with me, he says Salams & make Dua.
— Mujahid Miski (@Muhajir_1436_) December 21, 2014The reported number of Somali-American youths from the Twin Cities area who have traveled to fight with ISIS in Syria has varied widely.
Earlier this year two men from the Twin Cities, Abdiraaman Muhumad and Douglas McCain, were reported killed. And in late August I reported here at PJ Media on a video claiming another three Americans had been killed (thought not identifying them).
If yesterday’s report is correct, this would represent yet another loss in a long line of jihadist recruits from the Twin Cities.
More than 20 men from Minneapolis joined up in 2007 and 2008 to fight with Al-Shabaab in Somalia. More have left since to fight with various jihadist groups in Syria.
The problem of radicalization in the Somali community in the Twin Cities is a topic I’ve been reporting on since 2007 – nearly a year before other media outlets – when I reported on a recruiting and fundraising meeting in Minneapolis where the first round of jihadists, including the first American suicide bomber, were recruited.