Former Twin Cities man and ISIL recruiter linked to thwarted terrorist plots in U.S.

[Valin]

MPLS (Red) Star Tribune:

Former Minneapolis student who left U.S. in 2008 urges terror attacks, then vanishes.

Libor Jany

July 3, 2015

 

Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan, the former Minneapolis high school student-turned-jihadi recruiter, has been tied to at least two more terror plots within the United States.

 

Hassan, who goes by Mujahid Miski online, traded tweets with a Rhode Island man now facing federal terrorism charges for his role in an alleged plot to kill police officers, according to security analysts. Hassan is also thought to have been in contact with a New York City college student who federal investigators say was intent on bombing local landmarks. Both suspected plots were foiled by authorities. Earlier this year, Hassan was accused of influencing a gunman who tried to ambush a cartoon contest in Texas that was to feature depictions of the prophet Mohammed. The gunman and an accomplice were killed.

 

In the New York case, Hassan reportedly contacted Munther Omar Saleh, a college student, who on June 13 was arrested after he and an unidentified cohort ran toward an undercover law enforcement car that was tailing them near the Whitestone Bridge in New York City, according to security analysts. Authorities say that the two men were plotting to plant bombs at famous sites across the city.

 

Hassan also reportedly communicated online with Nicholas Rovinski in the months before the Rhode Island man was arrested for his role in an alleged plot to kill police officers and behead a blogger, analysts say. Sometime after Rovinski’s arrest, Hassan stopped tweeting, leaving security analysts and loyalists of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) wondering the same thing: Where is he?

 

(Snip)