Copenhagen, Saturday, December 06, 2008 – More and more Somalis with a residence permit in Denmark are going to back their former homeland to get military training and religious school at the al-Qaeda related terror group al-Shabab. This has gotten the Danish intelligence service to pay more attention to Somalis living in Denmark, reports Politiken.

The head of the Somali Society in Aarhus, Abdirashid Sheikh Mohamud, is concerned about the development and calls it a "very sensitive area."

"The government in Somalia has complained in the past about people from Scandinavia who support al-shabab either militarily or financially. I believe that about 15 people from Jutland traveled to Somalia to train with the group. In Zealand there are certainly several," he says to Politiken.

He has unsuccessfully tried to warn against an extremist group among a small, non-integrated part of the 16,000 Somalis in Denmark.

"But we can't make contact with this group of Somalis, because they often act threateningly," he explains.

PET, the police intelligence service, has no comment, but points to information in its latest yearly report that "several people with a residence permit in Denmark are involved in or in different ways contribute support to terror related activities in several countries." PET names here Somalia among others.

"PET is paying more attention to this tendency, because people who participated in fighting and gotten operative experience from conflict zones abroad, can constitute a security risk in Denmark," writes PET.

Source: DR (Danish), Dec 06, 2008

See also: Denmark: Money going for al-Qaeda attacks, Denmark: Danish citizens active in terrorism abroad

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