Al-Shabaab Threatens U.S. Attacks: Should You Be Worried?

Al-Shabaab, the al Qaeda-linked militant group in Somalia, has sympathizers in the United States, but likely does not have the ability to strike targets in the West, despite its recent threat to do so. A small number of Western citizens, including Americans, joined the ranks of al-Shabaab. Shirwa Ahmed, the United States’ first suicide bomber in the modern era, came from the Somali-American community in Minnesota. In a video posted online on February 21, al-Shabaab called for attacks on shopping malls in Canada, Britain, and the United States. The video lists the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, as a target. Minnesota is home to the United States’ largest Somali community. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has called on visitors to the Minnesota mall to be “particularly careful.” http://bit.ly/1weWK1x http://bit.ly/1fJ5yqZ