Some terror experts have said that the Kenyan shopping mall massacre is going to be "great shot in the propaganda arm" to the Al Qaeda-linked group's efforts to recruit fighters from the West, including the United States.
Analysts said the number of recruits from Somali communities in the U.S. and Europe could grow following the Nairobi mall attack, Fox News reports.
At least 62 people were killed and nearly 200 others injured in Saturday attack by al-Shabab, an extremist Islamic group believed to have roughly several thousand fighters, including a few hundred foreigners.
The analysis confirms that al-Shabab has not been able to successfully attack sites in Somalia, so it shifted its method by attacking a soft target to sent a clear message to would-be jihadists
Besides Minnesota, which is home to the largest Somali population in the U.S., Iowa and Arizona also has become domestic breeding ground for potential extremists.
Experts said that potential American-born recruits are those who struggled in school and could not succeed in life.
Such people are dissatisfied with the American way of life and subject to emotional manipulation, the report added.
The key concern for the U.S. intelligence officials is to ensure that no American-born citizen receives training from the al-Shahab group and then returns back to attack the state.
Congressman Peter King said that the intelligence community believes about 20 of those U.S.-born recruits are still active in Somalia.
