US authorities charged six young men from Minnesota with attempting to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State militant group, highlighting the growing concern over home-grown extremists.
Zacharia Yusuf Abdurahman, 19, Adnan Farah, 19, Hanad Mustafe Musse, 19, and Guled Ali Omar, 20, were arrested in Minneapolis yesterday.
Abdirahman Yasin Daud, 21, and Mohamed Abdihamid Farah, 21, were arrested yesterday in California after driving from Minneapolis to San Diego.
A criminal complaint was filed today charging them with conspiracy and attempt to provide material support to ISIS.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin said the six Somali-American men had allegedly planned to travel to Syria as part of their conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS.
US Attorney Andrew M Luger of the District of Minnesota said the six men worked over the course of the last 10 months to join the terror group and even when their co-conspirators were caught and charged, they continued to seek new and creative ways to leave Minnesota to fight for the terror outfit.
According to the criminal complaint and documents filed in court, the FBI has been conducting an investigation for the last 10 months into a group of individuals who have tried to join-and in some cases succeeded in joining-overseas designated foreign terrorist organizations.
At least nine Minnesotans have now been charged as part of this conspiracy to provide material support to ISIL.
The men are all alleged associates and friends of one another.
The case is the latest in a series of incidents where law enforcement officials have charged Americans planning to join the terror group and plotting attacks on US soil.
Earlier this month Noelle Velentzas, 28 and Asia Siddiqui, 31, were charged with conspiring to construct car and pressure cooker bombs to cary out strikes in the US.
In a separate case, Muhanad Mahmoud Al Farekh Farekh conspired with others to provide personnel to be used in support of efforts to kill American citizens and members of the US military abroad.
