Minnesota man's ISIS connection to Garland, Texas shooting

The Mohammed drawing contest in Garland, Texas, was not only intentionally provocative, it was a natural target for Islamic extremists. One of the two suspects killed, Elton Smith was once convicted of lying to the FBI about plans to travel to Somalia to fight for Al Shabaab. However, a Minnesota man already in Somalia is getting blamed for inspiring the attack.

Mohamed Hassan, or "Miski," reportedly called for the attack on Twitter 10 days earlier, tweeting:

It was followed by a link to the event in Garland, Texas. Federal prosecutors say Miski left Minnesota for Somalia seven years ago to fight for Al Shabaab, but most of his fighting is done at the keyboard. He's been non-stop on social media ever since.

Prosecutors say on Facebook, Miski encouraged another Minnesotan, Abdi Nur, to go to Syria to fight for ISIS, saying:

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In turn, prosecutors say Nur recruited others, including the recently indicted 6 Minnesota men who allegedly attempted to travel to Syria, Nur even promising to arrange fake passports. Miski was also the first to declare two other Minnesotans on social media as martyrs. |

"After having multiple failed attempts of young ones to leave U.S., now instead the message is, do it over there, why not?" community activist Omar Jamal said in a statement. "That is the real threat now."

Fox 9 conversed with Miski around Christmas Eve, via direct messages on Twitter. In one of the messages, he said, "the caliphate will reach everywhere insha'Allah. Even the house of filth," he said, referring to the White House.When asked if Al Shabaab planned suicide bombings in the U.S., he said, "I cannot comment."