US indicts Eritrean on charges of aiding Somali insurgents

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan unsealed an indictment March 8 accusing a suspect brought to the US from Nigeria, Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed, of conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization al-Shabab, the main insurgent army in Somalia. Ahmed, 35 of Eritrea, is also charged with providing that support, conspiring to receive training from a foreign terrorist organization, and receiving the training.

The indictment charges that in 2009 he bought a Kalashnikov rifle and two grenades, and provided about 3,000 euros (about $4,470) to al-Shabab. The indictment also states that he received training at Shabab camps in Somalia.

The State Department designated al-Shabab a terrorist organization in 2008. Last year, the group claimed responsibility for a mortar attack aimed at a Rep. Donald M. Payne (D-NJ), who was visiting Somalia. Ahmed's indictment also states that members of al-Shabab and the affiliated Islamic Courts Union are thought to have provided a haven to al-Qaeda members wanted for the US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.