MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The mother of a young Somali man who died after leaving Minnesota to fight with al-Shabab openly wept when shown photos of his body Wednesday during the trial of a man accused of directing young expatriates to join the terror group in Somalia.
Her testimony came as prosecutors began using family stories and travel records to build their case against Mahamud Said Omar, who is charged with five terror-related counts including conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He has pleaded not guilty.
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Prosecutors allege that since 2007, more than 20 young men have left Minnesota for the war-torn East African nation to take up arms with al-Shabab, a U.S.-designated terror group linked to al-Qaida. Prosecutors say the men secretly met in a mosque, cars and restaurants to plan their trips.
Omar, 46, is accused of assisting some men with travel plans and providing money for weapons.
Among those men was Sheikh Bana, investigators say. He left Minneapolis in November 2008, and died in Somalia the following July.
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KARLSTAD, Minn. (AP) — Evacuees were allowed to return home Wednesday in Karlstad after firefighters stopped a rapidly advancing wildfire from engulfing the small northwestern Minnesota town, but smoke from several fires in the area was causing concern for other residents as it blanketed a large part of northern Minnesota.
Updated figures show the wildfire destroyed seven mobile homes, four regular homes, two garages and 22 other structures in the Karlstad area Tuesday, said Jean Goad, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center.
The smoke was being carried as far as 200 miles away by strong winds out of the northwest and was trapped close to the ground by a temperature inversion, Goad said. The inversion was expected to lift and bring some relief Wednesday afternoon, she said.
“But folks in northern Minnesota are going to see smoke for a few days because there’s so much peat burning up here,” Goad said.
Residents in the Bemidji, Deer River, Grand Rapids, Orr, Cook, Virginia, Hibbing and Tower areas — as well as Fort Frances, Ontario — were among those who reported seeing smoke and expressed their concern to local authorities, Goad said.
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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — With fire danger high, Minnesota officials are asking for the public’s help in reducing the risk of wildfires.
Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Landwehr says Minnesota has “a unique and dangerous combination of fires that are not yet well contained up north,” while the southern part of the state has “a serious fire risk.”
Landwehr is asking Minnesotans to take precautions. Those include avoiding mowing dry fields and lawns until fire danger improves, avoiding target shooting, and carrying a fire extinguisher when operating machinery in dry areas.
Minnesotans also are asked to follow all burning restrictions. Campfires and other open burning are banned in several areas of the state.
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — State officials have asked the Minnesota Court of Appeals to reject an attempt by animal welfare groups to block the resumption of wolf hunting in the state.
The lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity and Howling for Wolves is without legal merit, attorneys representing the Department of Natural Resources said in a filing dated last Friday.
The lawsuit filed last month seeks a preliminary injunction to stop Minnesota’s first regulated wolf season from opening as scheduled Nov. 3. It contends the 30-day online survey the DNR conducted over the summer fell short of the legal requirements for giving notice and allowing public comments on the proposed regulations. The suit also says allowing the hunt to proceed would cause irreparable harm to the wolf population and to people who want to see or hear the animals in the wild.
But the DNR countered in its response that the agency received extensive public comments that resulted in substantive changes to the final rules, and that fears the hunt will harm the state’s wolf population are unfounded. The DNR acted within its legal authority for conducting expedited rulemaking, according to the response.
The Court of Appeals has not said when it might rule on the request for a preliminary injunction.
