Somali training camps fuel threat of attacks on US

[unhappycamper]

Somali training camps fuel threat of attacks on US
By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN and JASON STRAZIUSO
Associated Press Writers
Nov 29, 10:22 AM EST

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- 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-Qaida, according to local and U.S. officials. American officials and private analysts say the camps pose a security threat far beyond the borders of Somalia, including to the U.S. homeland.

In interviews with The Associated Press, former trainees gave rare details on the camps, which are scattered along desert footpaths, rutted roads and steamy coastal dens. They say the recruits are told the United States is the enemy of Islam.

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.


Rest of article at: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AF_SOMALIA_TRAINING_CAMPS?SITE=DCSAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-11-29-10-22-27