Group behind Uganda bombings linked to Seattle probe

In July, a 25-year-old graduate of Seattle's Roosevelt High School, Abdifatah Yusuf Isse, pleaded guilty in Minnesota to providing support to terrorists in connection with U.S. recruitment efforts by al-Shabab, the group involved in Sunday's bombing that killed 74 people in Uganda. His attorney said in court filings that Isse was being recruited to be a suicide bomber.

Isse and another man are cooperating with federal investigators looking into who recruited them and how they were funded.

Isse's mother told The Seattle Times in July that he had traveled from Seattle to Minneapolis, where he was recruited at an area mosque and left for Somalia in 2007. Court documents say he was given an AK-47 and helped build an al-Shabab training camp.

In 2008, Ruben Shumpert, of Seattle, an African-American convert to Islam, was reportedly killed in a U.S.-supported rocket attack near Mogadishu after he fled to Somalia, in part, to avoid prison after pleading guilty to gun and counterfeiting charges here. He was reportedly fighting for a group linked to al-Shabab and al-Qaida in Somalia, according to news reports and federal officials here.

Last July, a 25-year-old Roosevelt High School graduate, Abdifatah Yusuf Isse, pleaded guilty in Minnesota to providing support for terrorists in connection with U.S. recruitment efforts by al-Shabab. Isse traveled to Mogadishu and was trained in the use of small arms and explosives, and helped build an al-Shabab training camp. His attorney says Isse was recruited to be a suicide bomber.

Seattle has the second-largest Somali community in the United States after Minneapolis, where more than 20 young Somali men have disappeared and are believed to have gone to Mogadishu to train with the terrorist group.

David Gomez, the assistant special agent in charge of the Seattle office of the FBI, said Monday that the investigation into terrorist recruitment among East African immigrants in Seattle is "active and ongoing." He said he is unaware of any other Seattle recruitments since last summer and said the bureau is trying hard to reach out to the communities.

The bombing in Uganda is "certainly disturbing news," Gomez said. "Anything related to al-Shabab and what they are doing is of interest to us and our investigation."

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com