LATimes: The FBI announced Friday that it is investigating the mass shooting Wednesday in San Bernardino as an act of terrorism. Tashfeen Malik, one of the assailants, pledged allegiance to an Islamic State leader in a Facebook posting before the attack, two federal law enforcement officials said Friday.

If the FBI declares the shooting an act of terrorism, it would be the first Islamic-terrorist attack in Southern California. But the region has experienced activities related to Islamic terrorism. The House of Representative’s Committee on Homeland Security said 16 Southern California residents have been tied to such activity since 2001:

Los Angeles

March 23, 2003

Hasan Akbar

Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar, who grew up in Watts, turned on his fellow soldiers while serving in Kuwait in 2003, shooting at officers and tossing grenades into their tents. Two officers were killed and 14 others wounded in the attack. In 2005, a military jury sentenced Akbar to death.
Read more »

July 27, 2005

Kevin James, Levar Haley Washington, Gregory Vernon Patterson and Hammad Riaz Samana

Law enforcement officials stopped a terrorist plot to attack religious institutions, military bases and airports. Officials said James, a former inmate at California State Prison, Sacramento, initiated the plot. While in prison, James headed a radical Islamic prison gang. After his release, he and Washington, another former inmate, recruited Patterson and Samana, from Washington’s mosque. All four were charged with conspiracy to conduct war against the U.S. government through terrorism. Washington and Patterson were sentenced to 22 years and 12 years, respectively. Samana was sentenced to 70 months in prison, and James was sentenced to 16 years. Read more »

May 22, 2015

Nader Elhuzayel and Muhanad Badawi

Elhuzayel and Badawi were arrested after expressing interest in traveling to Syria to join Islamic State. Federal authorities said they overheard a conversation between the two in which one proclaimed his desire to die as a martyr on a battlefield while fighting for the group. Elhuzayel was arrested at LAX before he boarded a plane for Turkey, and Badawi, who officials say purchased Elhuzayel’s ticket, was taken into custody at an Anaheim gas station. Both men have pleaded not guilty to charges of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Read more »

Riverside

Nov. 16, 2012

Sohiel Omar Kabir, Ralph Deleon, Miguel Alejandro Santana Vidriales and Arifeen David Gojali

Deleon and Kabir were sentenced in February to 25 years in federal prison for a 2012 terrorist plot to travel to Afghanistan, join Al Qaeda and kill Americans. Vidriales and Gojali cooperated with authorities in the investigation and pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges. In March, Vidriales was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison; Gojali was sentenced to five years in federal prison. Read more »

Garden Grove

Oct. 11, 2013

Sinh Vinh Ngo Nguyen

Nguyen was arrested in 2013 while preparing to board a Mexico-bound bus in Santa Ana. He admitted to traveling to Syria the previous year to join opposition forces against the Bashar Assad regime. Authorities said Nguyen planned to become an Al Qaeda operative and lead an attack on coalition forces. He pleaded guilty to terrorism charges in December 2013. Read more »

Orange County

July 2, 2014

Adam Dandach

Dandach was arrested on July 2, 2014, at John Wayne Airport as he tried to board a plane headed to Istanbul, Turkey. He pleaded guilty in August to attempting to travel to Syria to join ISIS, and faces up to 25 years in federal prison. Read more »

San Diego

Oct. 9, 2009

Jehad Mostafa

An indictment was issued for Mostafa in 2009, alleging that he, a former resident of San Diego, conspired to provide material support to terrorists. Mostafa is currently believed to be in Somalia, possibly working with Shahab, an Islamist army with ties to Al Qaeda. Read more »

Aug. 26, 2014

Douglas McAuthur McCain

McCain, a San Diego resident, was reportedly killed while fighting for the Islamic State in Syria.
Read more »

April 16, 2015

Mohamad Saeed Kodaimati

Mohamad Saeed Kodaimati traveled to Turkey from San Diego in late 2012 and was in Turkey and Syria until he returned to the U.S. in March, according to prosecutors. Authorities allege that Kodaimati lied to federal officials about his links to Islamic State in Syria. He pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and agreed to a prison sentence of eight years. His sentencing is set for Jan. 11. Read more »

Minneapolis is a Terror Axis, NPR

 

Minnesotan Sheds Light On Somali Terrorist Group

July 29, 2009 • Salah Asman Ahmed pleaded guilty Tuesday to providing material support to terrorist organization al-Shabab in Somalia. In his testimony, Ahmed gave the most detailed public account to date of how a bunch of Somali-American youth ended up in a terrorist training camp half a world away from Minnesota.

Indictments Stir Fear, Relief For Somali-Americans

July 15, 2009 • Somali-Americans in Minneapolis are relieved that authorities may be close to revealing who they believe is behind the recruitment of young men from the U.S. into a Somali terrorist group. But “we are scared that the recruiters can be anywhere in our community and we don’t know them,” says one community leader.

 

2 Somali-Americans Indicted On Terrorism Charges

July 13, 2009 • The federal indictments charge two men with providing material support to a terrorist organization. These are the first indictments to be unsealed in a broader case involving the disappearance of more than two dozen Somali-Americans from Minnesota over the past two years.

Family Mourns After Somali-American Found Dead

June 18, 2009 • Early this year, a young Somali-American disappeared from his home in Minneapolis. Burhan Hassan, 17, had gone to Africa to join a Somali militia group called al-Shabab. His family got news last week that he had been killed in Mogadishu.

 

FBI Looks For Clues To Missing Somali Youths

May 21, 2009 • In the past year and a half, several dozen young Somali men have boarded planes to Africa and are thought to have joined up with a terrorist group in their home country. The FBI is trying to figure out why so many have been lured from Minneapolis.

 

FBI Searches Midwest Businesses With Somali Links

April 14, 2009 • Federal agents served warrants on a handful of money transfer businesses around Minneapolis and eastern Missouri last week. People close to the investigation said the searches were related to the disappearance of about two dozen young Somali-American men from the Twin Cities in the past two years.

Al-Qaida Media Blitz Has Some On Alert

April 8, 2009 • In the past month, al-Qaida has released three videos supporting militant and terrorist groups in Somalia and Sudan, and experts say this is part of a growing body of evidence showing al-Qaida is trying to extend its reach in the Horn of Africa. One of the videos shows a leader speaking English to followers.

 

Somalis Missing From Minn. May Have Returned

March 27, 2009 • For months, young Somali men and teenagers have been turning up missing from their homes in Minneapolis. Law enforcement officials have traced them to Somalia, where they are believed to have linked up with a Somali group on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations. Now there’s word that some of the boys may have returned home.

 

FBI Says Missing Youth Recruited By Terrorists

March 12, 2009 • In the past year and a half, about two dozen Somali-American youth disappeared from their homes in MN. The FBI believes the young men were radicalized and recruited here in the U.S., then sent to Somalia. There’s concern they’ll return to the U.S. to carry out attacks.

 

FBI Believes Missing Men Joined Somali Terrorists

March 12, 2009 • Young Somali-Americans in Minneapolis have been vanishing over the past year and a half. It’s been suspected that the young men have been heading to Somalia. And for the first time, the FBI hinted Wednesday that that was the case. The FBI believes terrorist recruiters are operating in Minnesota and helping young men make their way to the East African nation.

 

Probing The Somali-Minneapolis Terrorist Axis

March 11, 2009 • Senior U.S. counterterrorism officials tell a Senate hearing that al-Shabab, an East Africa-based terrorist group, is working to recruit young Somalis from around Minneapolis. What are the connections between al-Shabab and al-Qaida?

 

FBI Sheds Light On Missing Somali-Americans

March 11, 2009 • Law enforcement officials testifying before Congress on Wednesday said that nearly two dozen young Somali-Americans who disappeared from Minneapolis in the past year were radicalized and sent to Somalia to fight with an Islamic militia. They say the group that recruited them may have links to al-Qaida.

 

Somali Teens Go Missing In Minneapolis

February 2, 2009 • Minneapolis is home to the largest Somali expatriate community in the U.S. But the Midwestern city is now the scene of an international mystery: dozens of young Somali men have gone missing, and there are worries that the disappeared men are being drawn into a Somali militia group.

 

Missing Somali Teens May Be Terrorist Recruits

January 28, 2009 • Officials believe that missing young Somali men from Minneapolis may have been recruited by Somali Islamist groups to fight in the country’s civil war. The Somali community is stunned by those who have gone missing, many of whom have close family ties.