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A Twin Cities man whose family believes was involved in a recent suicide bombing in Mogadishu vounteered with youth programs at a well-known Minneapolis mosque before he left for Somalia.

That's according to Hassan Jama, director of the Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center.

Farah Beledi, whom family members identified as one of the men behind the attack, spoke at a press conference at the Abubakar mosque in February 2009. We ran an excerpt of his short remarks in my 

Eight months after Beledi spoke at the mosque, prosecutors allege he was on his way across the Mexico border with a final destination of Somalia to support the terrorist group al-Shabaab. Most of the roughly two dozen young men from Minnesota accused of joining the group worshipped at the mosque. But federal authorities emphasize that there's no evidence suggesting imams or other mosque officials played a part in the men's radicalization.

Jama emailed me the mosque's response to the news about Beledi today. Here is his full statement:

Minnesota News

The Cities Blog

Laura Yuen

Author

The Abubakar As-Saddique mosque in Minneapolis responds to news that a Twin Cities man who volunteered there may have been involved in a suicide bombing in Somalia.

Farah-Beledi-RCSO2006-11-29-06-thumb-200x250-thumb-150x187.jpg

Mosque responds to Somali suicide bombing

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