WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Fourteen U.S. residents have been charged with supporting al-Shabaab, the Somali Islamic terror group, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday.
The 14 were named in four indictments unsealed Thursday. Twelve of the suspects are not in custody and are believed to be overseas, the department said.
"These indictments and arrests in Minnesota, Alabama and California shed further light on a deadly pipeline that has routed funding and fighters to al-Shabaab from cities across the United States," Attorney General Eric Holder said at a Washington news conference.
"An indictment was unsealed in Minnesota charging 10 men with terrorism offenses for leaving the United States to join al-Shabaab as foreign fighters," he said. "Seven of these defendants had been previously charged by either indictment or criminal complaint. The remaining three defendants had not been charged before".
Two of the suspects were taken into custody Thursday by the FBI. Agents arrested Amina Farah Ali, 33, and Hawo Mohamed Hassan, 63, both naturalized U.S. citizens from Somalia and residents of Rochester, Minn. UPI
