Shirwa Ahmed
| 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 was a 26-year-old Somali-American who is the second known American suicide bomber, surpassing Andrew Kehoe.[1][2]
Overview
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] 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.[1] The FBI investigated the incident and returned Ahmed's remains to Minneapolis that November.[1]