Word: shabab
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Somali-American college student from Minneapolis, became the first American suicide bomber on record when he killed 29 people in an attack in Somalia. Earlier in the year, the FBI revealed that at least 20 Somali-Americans from the Minneapolis area had traveled to Somalia to join al-Shabab, a radical militia tied to al-Qaeda. Five Somali-Americans are believed to have died in fighting there this year, and Somali officials say at least one more unnamed U.S. citizen has become a suicide bomber for al-Shabab. (See pictures of a jihadist's journey...
...Also in November, eight Somali-American men from Minnesota were charged with terrorism-related counts involving al-Shabab. Six other had been charged previously. Most of the men were charged in absentia because they remain in Somalia, along with dozens of Somali Americans who are believed to have joined the al-Qaeda-linked militia...
...Shabab's members are very clear about their objective: to overthrow Somalia's government and enact the strict Islamic law known as Shari'a. The group has banned music, videos, shaving and even bras in the areas it controls and maintains control through often brutal methods. Women accused of adultery are publicly stoned to death; teenaged thieves have had their limbs severed; one Somali said his brother was killed simply for selling phone cards to Ethiopian troops. Although Somalia is a majority Muslim nation, its faith has traditionally been far more moderate; the repressive al-Shabab is viewed by most...
Outsiders know relatively little about al-Shabab - Arabic for "the youth," also spelled al-Shabbab. The group is believed to have formed in mid-2004 as the military wing of the Islamic Court Union, a radical group that controlled much of Somalia before being ousted by the Ethiopian army in a U.S.-backed invasion in 2006. (Somalia has been without a strong central government since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown by warlords in 1991. Conflict in the Horn of Africa nation - one of the world's most lawless - has killed more than 19,000 people in the past three...
...primary concern among American security officials is that al-Shabab fighters with American passports could one day return and carry out terrorist acts within the United States. There is no evidence of any such plot to date, though the group has apparently expanded beyond its Somali base. In August, four Australian men with alleged al-Shabab connections were arrested and charged with plotting a gun attack on a military barracks near Sydney. The group has made clear that it views the United States as a potential adversary. After al-Shabab was added to America's list of terrorist nations...