National Post – May 13, 2011
A former Toronto man who is now a commander of the Somali terrorist group Al-Shabab has called for revenge over the killing of Osama bin Laden in an audiotape posted on the Internet. Photos that accompany the recording show Omar Hammami, alias Abu Mansour the American, speaking at an Al-Shabab rally called “We are all Osama” along with other leaders of the al-Qaeda-linked group.The son of a Southern Baptist mother and a Syrian father, Hammami, 27, grew up in Alabama and moved in 2004 to Toronto, where he married a Somali-Canadian and was recruited into Islamist extremist ideology. Since arriving in Somalia, he has posted scores of videos on the Internet urging Western Muslim youths to join Al-Shabab, a Taliban-like armed group trying to impose its version of Islamic law on Somalis.
Officials say up to 20 young Canadians have already travelled to Somalia to join Al Shabab, which Canada outlawed as a terrorist organization last year after it began aggressively recruiting Somali-Canadians.
