Strib’s Anonymous Sources

chuckt:

Below is a quick tour of the StarTribune’s anonymous or vaguely-sourced connections between the South Minneapolis Abubakar As-Saddique mosque and local Somali immigrants who have gone missing in recent months.

Specifically, I cannot find a single Strib story with any identifiable source directly connecting the mosque with deceased suicide bomber Shirwa Ahmed, who was name-checked by the FBI director this week:

“The FBI director did not mention the Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center, the mosque that some of the young men, including Ahmed, attended.” [2/24/09 link]

———-

“Some in Minneapolis’ Somali community have said the young men disappeared after being radicalized at Abubakar.” [2/24/09 link]

———-

This story does have one missing man’s family suspect a connection to Abubakar, but nothing about Shirwa Ahmed, despite the following line:

“Many, including Shirwa Ahmed, a Minneapolis man who returned to the country and killed himself in a suicide bombing, had ties to, or spent time at Abubakar As-Saddique, a large mosque in south Minneapolis.” [2/9/09 link]

———-

“Many of the men, including Shirwa Ahmed, a Minneapolis man who returned to Somalia and died in a suicide bombing last fall, were reported to have spent time at Abubakar.” [2/9/09 link]

———-

This gets closer to an actual source, with this quote from Abubakar’s attorney, but again, nothing specific about Shirwa Ahmed:

“The men’s connection with Abubakar As-Saddique is more a given than the exception, he said, given the mosque’s size and long history in the Somali community. ‘That does not mean the center is recruiting or indoctrinating any of this stuff.’” [12/8/08 link]

———-

If there’s a story I’ve missed, I’m happy to be corrected.

UPDATE: still nobody going on the record, yet the connection is still made:

“Ahmed, and some of the other Somali men from Minneapolis who disappeared had spent time at, or had ties to Abubakar, sources in the Somali community have said.” [2/25/09 link]

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