The Slatest

Minnesota Father of Nine Killed Fighting for ISIS in Syria

Another American, Abdirahmaan Muhumed, has been killed fighting on behalf of ISIS in Syria. Muhumed was from Minnesota; Douglas McAuthur McCain, whose death in Syria was reported Tuesday, attended high school in Minnesota, though it’s not clear whether the two men knew each other.

Minnesota Public Radio reported earlier in the summer that Muhumed was among the group of “as many as 15” Americans of Somali ancestry who had left the Twin Cities to fight in Syria:

“A Muslim has to stand up for [what’s] right,” Muhumed, 29, wrote in a Jan. 2 [Facebook] post. “I give up this worldly life for Allah.”

Muhumed, who claims he wants to save the global Muslim community, said if that causes others to consider him a terrorist, he is “happy with it.” He asked Allah to forgive him and to “make my mom strong for the decision that I made.”

One man told a Twin Cities Fox affiliate that women are being recruited as well:

According to Abdi Bihi, a leader in the local Somali community, ISIS has recently begun trying to recruit young women from the Twin Cities to their cause as well.

“They are brainwashing them to marry them off to jihadists,” he said. “They call them to help out as nurses, help out the wounded – but the real catch is they will be sexually exploited.”

Muhumed leaves behind nine children.