More than 40 Americans have been recruited and radicalised by the al-Qaeda-linked terrorists in Somalia and have gone to the war-torn country to fight,the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said. Rep Peter King,a New York Republican,plans to outline the findings of his committees own investigation Wednesday during the third hearing in a series on Muslim radicalisation in the US. US counterterrorism officials have not confirmed such high numbers of Americans joining the Somali terror organisation,al-Shabab. The government has said at least 21 Americans are believed to have travelled to Somalia to join the terror group in what began as a push to expel Ethiopian soldiers,and some of those young men have died in the fight. Al-Shabab has expanded its focus over the years,and it has aligned itself with other anti-Western terror groups. Republican staff on the Homeland Security Committee also found that more than 20 Canadians had been recruited and radicalised and joined the fight in Somalia. The Canadian police have said several Somali youths from the Toronto area are suspected to have travelled to Somalia to join al-Shabab. In his prepared opening remarks,obtained by The Associated Press,King said al-Shabab is engaged in an ongoing,successful effort to recruit and radicalise dozens of Muslim-American jihadis,who pose a direct threat to the US. King said al-Shabab is not just a Somali problem and that the organisation has a large cadre of American jihadis and ties to al-Qaeda,particularly the terrorist groups Yemen branch.
