US Muslims flocking to jihadist group ISIS

http://nypost.com/2014/06/20/us-muslims-flocking-to-jihadist-group-isis/

By Laura Italiano

June 20, 2014 | 3:25am

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Militants from the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) with truckloads of captured Iraqi soldiers after taking over a base in Tikrit, Iraq. Photo: AP

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Radicalized young American Muslims — including as many as 15 Somali-born Minnesotans — have flocked to ISIS in recent months, lured to the jihadist group by rap videos and hip social-media propaganda.

Security experts are calling it the “Jihad Cool” rebranding of terrorism, and say it’s highly effective in pushing Americans like Abdirahmaan Muhumed, a Twin Cities father of nine, to high-tail it to Syria to help ISIS topple President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

“I give up this worldly life for Allah,” Muhumed explained of joining ISIS in a Facebook message earlier this year. If people call him a terrorist, he’s “happy with it,” he added.

While not fighting, Muhumed has been busy posting images of himself online, showing himself smiling into the camera while holding an AK-47 and throwing the jihadi equivalent of a gang sign — pointing his index finger skyward. Another image appears to show the head of a deceased male.
The trend was first reported by Minnesota Public Radio.

The FBI would not name the 15 radicalized Minnesotans, except to confirm that Muhumed is among them, and that they are investigating how they were recruited.