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Sep 5, 2009 6:50 pm US/Central
Mpls. Man Who Left Family To Fight Dies In Somalia
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ―
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Minnesota Somali leaders confirmed Sept. 5, 2009 that Mohamoud Hassan had recently died in Somalia, but couldn't say exactly when or how. They said he left Minneapolis on Nov. 4, 2008 to return to fight there.
Abdirizak Bihi
Minnesota Somali leaders have now confirmed the death of a fifth Twin Cities man overseas.
Mohamoud Hassan was born in Somalia, but came to Minneapolis at a young age. His uncle said he was 19 years old, but it is unclear when he was killed.
Hassan was a Roosevelt High School graduate and an engineering student at the University of Minnesota. He also loved to play basketball. But last November he left school and his grandmother behind and joined the terrorist group al-Shabaab in order to fight a civil war in Somalia.
His family feared the worst. What scared local Somali leaders the most is that Hassan didn't leave alone.
"He was a kid that, like Burhan my nephew and other kids, who was misled," said family friend Abdirizak Bihi.
Leaders said Hassan was with a Christian man who has yet to be identified, but that man may have also been from the Twin Cities. The two were fighting for al-Shabaab when they were captured by Somali government soldiers. In a fight to get them back, both men were killed.
"He had hopes and dreams to become an engineer. He would have been the first one to graduate from college in his family," said Bihi.
Hassan was also a member of the Abubakar As-Saddique Mosque in Minneapolis. Leaders said his death interrupts Ramadaan which is supposed to be a time for peace in the Islamic faith. They are worried al-Shabaab will continue to recruit young men to be terrorists from Minnesota and around the world.
"The Somali-American community is on edge and nervous about this and everybody is praying [for] an end to this," said Bihi.
"We will be surprised if any one of those [who] left now came out alive. They are in very, very bad shape, situation. They will either be killed by al-Shabaab or the government will kill them," said Omar Jamal of the Somali Justice Advocacy Group.
The families of the 20 men who left the cities to go to Somalia will be meeting on Monday to discuss what they can do to get the men to leave al-Shabaab and return home. They fear the terrorist group is not only recruiting in Minnesota, but in Australia and Europe as well.
Somali leaders said all five men met at Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center in Minneapolis, but Islamic leaders there said they are not responsible for the men joining al-Shabaab.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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