7 Minnesotans accused of trying to join Islamic State

MINNEAPOLIS — Seven Minnesota men have been accused of providing material support to a terrorist organization, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.

One, Hamza Naj Ahmed, 21, had been indicted in February for providing material support to the Islamic State. He had been stopped in November at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport before boarding a flight to Istanbul, according to the FBI.

Added to that indictment were Zacharia Yusuf Abdurahman, 19; Abdirahman Yasin Daud, 21; Adnan Farah, 19; • Mohamed Abdihamid Farah, 21; Hanad Mustafe Musse, 19; and Guled Ali Omar, 20. All except Abdurahman are from Minneapolis; Abdurahman is a Columbia Heights, Minn., resident, according to Andrew Luger, U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota.

For at least the past 10 months, FBI agents have been investigating a people who allegedly have tried to join — and in some cases succeeded in joining — overseas terrorist organizations, the indictments and documents filed in federal court revealed.

At least nine Minnesotans now have been charged as part of the alleged conspiracy to provide material support to ISIL. The men are all associates and friends.

Among the co-conspirators are Abdullahi Yusuf and Abdi Nur, men not named in this indictment, but both charged in a criminal complaint.

The six men added to the indictment were previously charged with trying to join the Islamic State and have made at least two appearances in federal court.

In the superseding indictment Ahme and Musse also are charged with financial aid fraud for allegedly using education money from the federal government to buy plane tickets from New York to destinations in Europe to join Islamic State forces.

All seven newly indicted are expected to make appearances in federal court in coming days.