MOGADISHU, Somalia — The recruits gather in scorching desert hideouts in Somalia, use portraits of President Barack Obama for target practice, learn how to make and detonate bombs, and vow allegiance to Osama bin Laden.
Training camps in the lawless nation of Somalia are attracting hundreds of foreigners, including Americans, and Somalis recruited by a local insurgent group linked to al-Qaeda, local and U.S. officials say. American officials and private analysts say the camps pose a security threat far beyond the borders of Somalia, including to the U.S. homeland.
U.S. and Somali officials say Somalia’s al-Shabab jihadist, or holy war, movement is growing, and uses foreign trainers with battlefield experience from other conflicts.
The threat posed by the training camps was underscored in federal court documents unsealed Nov. 23 in Minneapolis, home to a large Somali-American community. An indictment against several Somali-Americans who allegedly fought in Somalia said trainees at one camp included dozens of ethnic Somalis from Somalia and other African countries, Europe and the United States.
Al-Shabab — “the youth” in Arabic — wants to overthrow Somalia’s government and install a strict form of Islam. Analysts say the group has 2,000 to 3,000 fighters.
