Minneapolis Somalis testifying before Congress

As the FBI continues to investigate Islamist extremists recruiting young Somali men in the Twin Cities, two Minneapolis Somalis are scheduled to testify before Congress, says the Star Tribune.

Although the FBI has been following leads across the country, Minneapolis has been the focus due to several high profile stories coming from the community. One Minneapolis Somali man went back to Somalia last year and blew himself up as part of a larger terrorist attack. The FBI says he was indoctrinated in Minneapolis. Osman Ahmed, president of the Riverside Plaza Tenants Association, and Abdirahman Mukhtar, youth program manager at the Brian Coyle Community Center are scheduled to testify at today's hearing.

More from the Star Tribune:

Shirwa Ahmed, the first known suicide bomber with U.S. citizenship, immigrated with his family to the Minneapolis area in the mid-1990s, but returned to Somalia after he was recruited by a militant group, according to the FBI.

Counterterrorism officials are stepping up warnings that Islamist extremists in Somalia are radicalizing Americans to their cause, citing Ahmed and the disappearance of more than a dozen Somali American youths.

Ahmed, a 27-year-old college student, blew himself up in Somalia on Oct. 29 in one of five simultaneous bombings attributed to Al-Shabaab, a group with close links to Al-Qaida.

The FBI is also investigation connections in Boston, San Diego, Seattle, Columbus, Ohio, and Portland, Maine.