Monday December 14, 2015
A group of former al-Shabaab members recently announced an allegiance to Islamic State (ISIS). "The agency is trying to determine whether he and Farook were in any contact before last week's attack".
Minnesota Public Radio reports that Hassan "had a fallout with al-Shabab recently after he publicly showed sympathy for ISIS and strongly advocated for al-Shabab to join ISIS, according to postings on his Twitter account".
Prior to the tragedy in San Bernardino, Hassan was linked to another deadly incident this year in Garland, Texas, where two men attempted to attack a Mohammad cartoon event, but were gunned down by police before they could kill anyone.
"They have no time to coordinate for their defections", he said.
Meanwhile, an American who had been fighting with al-Shabaab also left the al-Shabaab rebels and was arrested by Somalia's security forces on Monday.
Malik Abdiwahab, thought to be from San Diego and also given the name Jones in some media reports, surrendered to African Union and Somali forces close to the port town of Barawe in southern Somalia on Monday morning.
Foreign fighters are being alienated and feel trapped in Somalia over suspicions that they are plotting to switch allegiance to the Islamic State group fighting in Syria and Iraq, Abu Mohammed, a military commander with Al-Shabaab, told the Associated Press.
There are no official statement from Alshabab in connection with the man which the Somali government officials are claiming that has surrendered to them, but of late there has been rift between Alshabab group which has resulted the be in two different positions, one group is saying that they will be joining ISIS while the other is insisting to stay with its current network Alqaida. Hassan was indicted by the federal government for attempting to recruit people in Minnesota to join al-Shabaab.
The U.S. State Department says Hassan surrendered to Somali authorities last month.
The U.S. doesn't have an extradition agreement with Somalia, so it's unclear what the next steps will be in his case.
Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan spoke with Voice of America by phone Tuesday from prison.
"Any crimes that I have committed, if there is any, it is done over here in Somalia", he told Voice of America. With the relocation program now well over 20 years old, a new generation of Somalian American citizens are growing up in America.
The United States, other Western powers and countries in the region see the fight against the al Qaeda-aligned group as a vital part of the battle to prevent Islamist militancy spreading in East Africa and beyond.
The commanders were killed alongside their fighters who shifted loyalty together with Sheikh