House panel to hold hearings on Al Shabab recruiting
WASHINGTON — Congressional investigators looking at radical Islamic groups have once again set their sights on Minneapolis and the recruitment of Somali youth there by the group Al Shabab.
Rep. Pete King (R-NY), the chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, announced today that the committee will hold hearings next week focusing on Al Shabab, the third in a series of hearings that have looked at whether Islamic terrorists are recruiting disaffect American Muslims.
King's first hearing included testimony from DFL Rep. Keith Ellison and Minneapolis resident Abdirizak Bihi, whose nephew was recruited by Al Shabab to fight in Somalia. Ellison condemned the hearings as a "witch hunt" directed against American Muslims.
"In Minnesota, Ohio, and other states, dozens of young Muslim males have been recruited, radicalized, and then taken from their communities for overseas terrorist training by al-Shabab," King said in a statement. "In a number of cases, the men - including both Somali-Americans and other converts -- have ended up carrying out suicide bombings or have otherwise been killed, often without their families even knowing where their sons have gone."
The committee has not yet released its witness list for the hearings, which will be held Wednesday, July 27 at 9:30 AM Eastern Time.
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