US Convicts Somali of Trying to Recruit Terrorists in Minnesota

Wanted to topple Mogadishu government

A U.S. federal jury has convicted a 46-year-old Somali national of conspiring to recruit young men from the Midwestern U.S. state of Minnesota to join the al-Qaida-linked terrorist group al-Shabab in its push to topple the Mogadishu government.

Defendant Mahamud Said Omar was found guilty by the Minneapolis jury on all five counts of giving material support to terrorists, and conspiracy to kill, kidnap and injure people overseas.  Omar faces a possible sentence of life in prison.

A 2009 indictment accused Omar of giving money to more than 20 young men who traveled to east Africa from Minnesota to receive al-Shabab training.