Shirwa Ahmed | |
---|---|
Born | c. 1983 Somalia |
Died | October 29, 2008 Puntland, Somalia |
Cause of death | Suicide bombing |
Nationality | Naturalized U.S. citizen |
Motive | Politics and religion |
Shirwa Ahmed (c. 1983 – October 29, 2008) was a 26-year-old Somali-American who is the second known American suicide bomber, surpassing Andrew Kehoe. [1] [2] [3] He detonated a car bomb in Somalia in October 2008, killing himself.
Ahmed immigrated to the United States as a child, resided in Minneapolis, Minnesota and entered the Roosevelt High School in September 1996. [1] He became a naturalized American citizen [2] and went on to attend community college before dropping out and worked odd jobs. [1] In 2004, Ahmed began associating with a new group of friends perceived as having been religious; he was "radicalized in his hometown in Minnesota" according to Robert Mueller, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. [1] He was one of twenty Somali-American men who departed the Minneapolis area for Somalia, a trend which has been the focus of one of the larger domestic terrorism investigations since September 11, 2001. [1] [3] Motivated by a mixture of politics and religion, he joined Al-Shabaab, a militant Somali group. [1] Then, on October 29, 2008, — or the 28th [2] — he drove a car loaded with explosives into a government compound in Puntland in the northern region of the country, and blew himself up. [1] The FBI investigated the incident and returned Ahmed's remains to Minneapolis that November. [1]
Mother Jones magazine pointed out normal elements of his American upbringing, including being a fan of rap artist Ice Cube, and enjoying basketball. [3]
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