DETROIT — Federal authorities on Wednesday arrested several members of a radical Sunni Islam group in the U.S., killing one of its leaders at a shootout in a Michigan warehouse, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
Agents were trying to arrest Luqman Ameen Abdullah, 53, at a Dearborn warehouse on charges that included conspiracy to sell stolen goods and illegal possession and sale of firearms. Authorities also conducted raids elsewhere to try to round up 10 followers named in a federal complaint.
Abdullah refused to surrender, fired a weapon and was killed by gunfire from agents, FBI spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold said.
In the 43-paged complaint unsealed Wednesday, the FBI said Abdullah, also known as Christopher Thomas, was an imam, or prayer leader, of a radical group named Ummah whose primary mission is to establish an Islamic state within the United States.
No one was charged with terrorism. But Abdullah was “advocating and encouraging his followers to commit violent acts against the United States,” FBI agent Gary Leone said in an affidavit.
He told them it was their “duty to oppose the FBI and the government and it does not matter if they die,” Leone said.
Abdullah regularly preached anti-government rhetoric and was trained, along with his followers, in the use of firearms, martial arts and swords, the agent said.
Leone said members of the national group mostly are black and some converted to Islam while in prisons across the United States.
“Abdullah preaches that every Muslim should have a weapon, and should not be scared to use their weapon when needed,” Leone wrote.
Seven of the 10 people charged with Abdullah were in custody, including a state prison inmate, the U.S. attorney’s office said. Three were still at large. Another man not named in the complaint also was arrested.
The group believes that a separate Islamic state in the U.S. would be controlled by Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown, who is serving a life sentence in a federal prison in Colorado for shooting two police officers in Georgia in 2000, Leone said. Al-Amin, a veteran of the black power movement, started the group after he converted to Islam in prison.
“They’re not taking their cues from overseas,” said Jimmy Jones, a professor of world religions at Manhattanville College and a longtime Muslim prison chaplain. “This group is very much American born and bred.”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,570146,00.html
Islam is the common denominator, regardless of origin.
There’s a lot of domestic counter-terrorism going on lately.
2 Chicago Men Charged in Terror Plot Over Muhammad Cartoons
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,569780,00.html
You’d be surprised at the number of terrorist cells and compounds allowed in the United States.
Let’s hope society doesn’t turn into the insane video game fallout 3…where radioactive survivors and nutso people are digging around for scraps of food … what a sad outragious game … sad some communities look like the destructive game with the tornadoes and natural disasters that happen…some things we don’t have control of but we strive to make life better… and reality is reality and a video game is a video game! Got to water my tomatoe plants….
someone,
Unfortunately, muslim terrorism isn’t a video game. Neither was 9/11.
SFC MAC
sad how evil thoughts try to get to the believer or nonbeliever and sadder how one gets out of control and acts evil thoughts…problem with religion it is a form propaganda…for no one really knows if thier is a heaven or hell but religion was created to set rules for people to follow to live together in peace ! If u all don’t believe in my pet rock u all will go to rock crusher!
Still want to close Gitmo and put all the terrorists in prisons across the USA? Idiocy!
Maybe this will be a wake up call to all the folks living in fairytale land who think we wont be attacked again, and also to the terrorists plotting against America that if they want to die in the name of Allah they can go in a backroom somewhere, say a prayer, and suck on a pistol barrel cause the outcome will be the same.
Bobby,
The unfortunate thing is that many people are still in a complacent coma. Others still, are leftwing idiots who not only blame America for the attacks, but say "we had it coming". The purpose of homicide bombings in the name of their allah is to take as many innocent people as they can with them. I've said this so many times: we should have leveled several countries in the Middle East on 12 September, 2001. When you attack us, you, your allies, your supporters, everyone should die. That is how you fight a jihad. But I'm a former Soldier, not a craven politician.
SFC MAC