Guilty plea in Somalia terror case

MINNEAPOLIS, July 16 (UPI) -- A Somali-born man has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis to charges he aided terrorists operating out of Somalia, court records show.

The Seattle Times said Thursday Seattle resident Abdifatah Yusuf Isse, 25, pleaded guilty to a single count of providing material support to terrorists.

Isse was accused of traveling to Somalia to train with the radical Islamist group al-Shabaab, which was classified as a terrorist group in 2008 by the U.S. State Department, officials said.

Isse, a former Eastern Washington University economics student, was initially recruited by terrorists at the Abubakar as-Saddique Islamic Center in Minneapolis, Omar Jamal, director of the city's Somali Justice Advocacy Center, alleged.

"These people came here and took these boys right under the noses of the FBI," he alleged, speaking of jihad recruiters.

The Times said Isse, along with co-defendant Salah Ahmed, were accused in U.S. District Court Tuesday of taking part in the suspected terrorist recruitment ring. Isse's guilty plea leaves him facing a possible 10-year prison sentence.