US Charges 3 Men With Aiding Somalia’s Al-Shabab

U.S. prosecutors have indicted three U.S. residents on charges of providing funding to al-Shabab, a Somalia-based group affiliated with al-Qaida.

The U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday the three California residents transferred money from San Diego to Somalia to fund alleged terrorist activities.

One of the men, Basaaly Saeed Moalin, is also accused of providing a house in Somalia for al-Shabab fighters.

Immigration officials arrested Moalin before he boarded a flight Sunday in San Diego. The other two men were arrested Monday.

The State Department designated al-Shabab a terrorist organization in 2008.

Al-Shabab and other Islamist insurgent groups have been battling Somalia’s U.N.-backed transitional government for control of the capital, Mogadishu. They are trying to topple the leadership and set up a strict Islamic state.

Somalia has not had a stable, functioning central government since 1991. Although the current government has international backing, it controls only a few areas of the capital with the support of African Union peacekeepers

Some information in this story was provided by AP and AFP.