From Minneapolis to Mogadishu

Last year, 20 young Somali males from the St. Paul/Minneapolis area disappeared and then reappeared in Somalia. Abdisalan Hussein Ali is the latest victim for Allah, blowing himself up last week for the sake of 72 "doe-eyed" virgins. How many more Muslim men from America will we find fighting in the way of Allah in far-off lands, and more importantly when will they begin here?

From MSNBC October 31

Suicide bomber in Somali attack was reportedly from Minneapolis

MOGADISHU, Somalia — A man who blew himself up in an attack in the Somali capital on Saturday reportedly grew up in Minneapolis and was known by the FBI as one of 20 Somali Americans to have joined an al-Qaida-linked militant group.

Abdisalan Hussein Ali, 22, was suspected of being a member of al-Shabab, the FBI told msnbc.com.

Kyle Loven, the FBI's chief division counsel for Minneapolis, said Ali was a subject of "Operation Rhino," an ongoing investigation into Somali youth traveling from the U.S. to Somalia to fight for al-Shabab.

Loven could not confirm whether Ali was indeed the bomber but told msnbc.com that the FBI was

"awaiting results from DNA checks at this point."

Al-Shabab posted an audiotape that they said was made by Ali before he blew himself up during an attack Saturday on an African Union base in Mogadishu that left at least 10 people dead.

The FBI could not confirm whether the audiotape was authentic but was investigating its credibility.

A spokesman for the Somali affairs unit at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi told msnbc.com that they had seen reports alleging that one of the bombers was an American citizen."We have not been able to verify those reports," Matt Goshko said.

In the tape, the young man, who would be at least the fourth American to become a suicide bomber in Somalia, urges other young people to not "just chill all day" and instead fight nonbelievers around the world.

The website Somalimemo.net(website not in English), often used by the al-Shabab militia, said the Somali-American bomber had emigrated to the U.S. when he was two years old.

'Bullethead'

There were conflicting reports of his name, with some sources naming the bomber as Abdisalan Taqabalahullaah and Cabdi Salaam al-Muhajir.

But a Somali diplomat at the United Nations said the youth's friends and family listened to the recording and identified him as Abdisalan Hussein Ali, The New York Times reported.

"They all say it is him," Omar Jamal, the diplomat, told The Times.

According to The Minneapolis Star Tribune, he graduated from Edison High School and attended the University of Minnesota, where he was a pre-med student, The Times reported. He disappeared in 2008.

The Star Tribune reported that Ali's nickname was "Bullethead," and that during high school he liked to lift weights and that he sold shoes to help support his family.

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