Monday, May 13, 2013
by: CATHERINE PREUS
June 2006: Islamic Courts Union (ICU) of which Al-Shabab is an entity, takes control of Mogadishu, Somalia
December 2006: Ethiopia invades Somalia, invited by the Somali Transitional Federal Government, prosecutors say. Others say invasion had U.S. backing to overthrow ICU. More than 1,000 Somalis rally in Minneapolis to call for immediate Ethiopian withdrawal.
Mid 2007: ICU dismantled, Al-Shabab influence grows.
December 2007: The first of about 20 young men leave Minneapolis and travel to Somalia to train and fight with Al-Shabab.
February 2008: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice designates Al-Shabab a terrorist organization.
October 2008: Shirwa Ahmed, 26, of Minneapolis, dies in a car-bombing in Somalia. He is believed to be the first American suicide bomber.
June-July 2009: Three Minneapolis men killed in Mogadishu.
July 2009: Two Somali men with local ties are the first to be indicted on a charge of aiding terrorism.
September 2009: A fifth Somali man from Minneapolis and a Muslim convert from Minneapolis are killed in Mogadishu.
June 20, 2011: Number of men charged in Minnesota with supporting terrorism reaches 20.
Oct. 20, 2011: Two Rochester women are convicted of conspiring to provide support to a foreign terrorist group but weren’t connected to the recruitment of fighters.
Oct. 18, 2012: One-time mosque janitor Mahamud Said Omar found guilty of five terror-related charges.
May. 13-16, 2013: U.S. Chief Judge Michael Davis to sentence nine people.