Minnesota man pleads guilty to trying to join Islamic State

By Mark Weinraub

(Reuters) - A Somali-American man from Minnesota pleaded guilty on Thursday to trying to join the Islamic State and fight for the militant group in Syria, prosecutors said.

Adnan Farah, 20, plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office said. He faces a maximum of 15 years in prison.

A sentencing date has not been set yet.

More than 80 people have been charged since 2014 in U.S. federal cases related to Islamic State, which has claimed responsibility for the Brussels bombings in March that killed 31 people and the Paris attacks in November that killed 130.

Islamic State is also known as ISIS or ISIL and controls territory in Iraq and Syria.

Farah was arrested with five other men in April 2015. The government claimed that the group worked for 10 months to join the Islamic State.

All six men are friends or relatives with connections to other men who have tried or succeeded in going overseas to join Islamic State or al Shabaab, a militant group based in Somalia.

Farah's lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

(Reporting by Mark Weinraub; Editing by Alan Crosby)