Somali president warns U.S. of next al Shabaab attacks, Muslims condemn

The President of Somalia addressed the world from Ohio Monday saying that the al Qaeda linked terrorist group, al Shabaab is a threat to the whole world.

COLUMBUS, OH (Catholic Online) - Somali President, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud gave a speech at Ohio State University in Columbus, home to the second largest concentration of Somalis in the United States. During his speech, he condemned the terror group al Shabaab, saying they were not just a threat to Somalia and Africa, but to the world.

Al Shabaab is responsible for a massive terror attack on a mall in Kenya where over 60 people were killed by anywhere from 6 to 12 militants went on a rampage killing shoppers and setting explosives before entering a multi-day gun battle with Kenyan security forces.

It has been rumored that the mall shooters are al Shabaab members recruited from the United States.

Somalia is slowly rebuilding itself in the face of the militant Islamic terror organization which continues to operate in the Horn of Africa. The group has already spread its operations into the Sahara and together with Boko Haram in Nigeria, represents the spreading influence of militant Islam in the face of civilization there.

Somalia has been beset by decades of civil war and terrorism inspired by al Qaeda and other militant groups against the backdrop of chronic drought and famine. Violence remains rampant in some areas of Somalia where terrorists provide the only government people know.

Mohamud warned that Somalia remains in danger of relapsing into chaos and that world intervention will be key to rebuilding the troubled state as well as stopping al Shabaab.

Later, Muslims took advantage of the state visit to stage a press conference where they publicly and strongly condemned the actions of militant Muslims in al Shabaab saying, "they are nothing but criminals," according to a local imam.

"They are not Muslims. They have deviated from the teaching of Islam. Their main goal is to destabilize and create chaos in the world," he told reporters.

As the speeches took place in Ohio, three men of Somali descent went on trial in a Brooklyn courtroom. Ali Yasin Ahmed, Madhi Hashi and Mohamed Yusuf were described by prosecutors as members of a special suicide bombing unit within al Shabaab.

The men were captured in Somalia while working with al Shabaab to carry out attacks.

None of the ethnic Somali men are Americans, two have Swedish citizenship and one British. The men were allegedly involved in militant operations in Somalia from 2008 to 2012.

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