Minnesota Is Producing ISIS Jihadists, More Than 20, reports suggest


ISIS, or ISIL, has been the most recent Islamic terrorist threat facing the Middle East and the world at large. Though ISIS has typically lured in Middle Easterners for the most part, reports have been slowly revealing the seemingly terrifying reality, that recruits are pouring in from all corners of the globe.

This has been seeping into the mainstream news outlets after James Foley was beheaded.

The Inquisitr recently reported on the British ISIS terrorist “Jihadi John,” who was believed to be the man behind the disturbing beheading video.

Several British news organizations have reported that Jihadi John is the ringleader of a small, but brutal, group of formerly British jihadists. According to reports, John and his cohorts were often referred to as ‘The Beatles,’ due to their nationality and accents. The three militants eventually assumed the nicknames John, Paul, and Ringo.

Not unlike the British, the U.S. certainly has its own fears of homegrown terrorists. According to the Star Tribune, there are proceedings taking place in front of a federal grand jury to determine who has been persuading 20 to 30 Minnesotans to travel overseas and fight along side ISIS.

They went on to report that this all started seven years ago when about two dozen Somali-Americans were recruited to fight with Al-Shabab, a group, not unlike Al-Qaeda or ISIS.

After nine were killed overseas, and a series of indictment and convictions, authorities presumed recruiting had ceased. Unfortunately, It merely shifted terror groups and geographical regions, the Star Tribune says.

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As early as June, federal investigators stopped a Somali teen from Minnesota trying to board a plane to Syria to join the fight alongside ISIS, authorities believe.

Federal authorities say upward of a dozen Somali men and three women from Minnesota have fled the country to fight alongside or aid extremists in the Middle East. They estimate as many as 100 Americans have gone to Syria and Iraq to join insurgents.

As recently as August, the UK Daily Mail reports that three young Minnesota girls have migrated to Syria to aid ISIS.

The trio left some three weeks ago, Omar Jamal, a leader of the Somali community in the state capital. They said they intended to become nurses tending to fighters injured in ISIS’ violent surge in Syria and Iraq.

At this time, little is known as far as the identity of the three Minnesota girls, who traveled abroad to join ISIS. In the case of the one Minnesotan, we only know of her conversion to the ISIS terror group because her family contacted the FBI.

The UK Daily Mail, reports that Mr. Jamal is the source of information, regarding the awareness of the other two other girls who joined ISIS. The only thing the FBI confirmed about the one Minnesota girl, was that she was studying to be a nurse, at the time of her departure to Syria.

Two names have been the source concern for the Somalians in Minnesota that our converting and joining ISIS, Al-Farooq Youth and Family center and Amir Meshal.

All of the suspected ISIS converts have frequented this location and Amir Meshal, the alleged ISIS recruiter, is alleged to have recruited them there.

The UK Daily Mail provided some background on Mr. Meshal, which goes back as far as 2009.

Meshal sued the FBI in federal court in 2009 claiming he was tortured and held for four months in three different countries after being apprehended crossing the Somali border into Kenya.

Bob Fletcher, a retired Bloomington sheriff, stated that ISIS appears attractive in some ways to the young Somali population of Minnesota.

They have been here a shorter time than most immigrants and their arrival coincided with a downturn in the economy, so many have not been able to find work. Many also came here without fathers, who had either been killed in the war or did not make the trip, so on occasion the extremist religious leader becomes their father-figure.

He also went to say that the position of nurse in ISIS, such as the occupation of the Minnesota girl who the FBI alleged to have gone to join ISIS, is seen as a relatively stable job. Especially, to those seeking a state of their own and employment.

[ Images Via Daily Mail And Presstv ]

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