Somali-American pleads guilty in Minneapolis to trying to help Islamic State

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - A Somali-American man from Minnesota pleaded guilty on Thursday to conspiring to provide support to Islamic State militants, the second young adult in a week to do so in connection with a federal probe into the group's recruiting, prosecutors said. Zacharia Yusuf Abdurahman, 20, could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison. The guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Michael Davis follows that of his friend and fellow defendant Hanad Musse, 19, last week in Minneapolis. Abdurahman and Musse are part of a larger group of Somali-American friends and relatives, all U.S. citizens, who prosecutors said were conspiring to leave the United States to join the militant group. Abdurahman and six others, all 19 to 21 years old, were indicted in May on charges of conspiracy to support Islamic State and attempting to provide material support to the group. All have been held in custody since their arrests. A trial for the remaining defendants is scheduled for February. Abdurahman and Musse were stopped in November trying to board a flight to Greece from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York where they would then go to Syria to join Islamic State, prosecutors said. He and other members of the group continued to talk about ways to get to Syria after that failed attempt, prosecutors said. In April, Abdurahman was part of a plan to travel to Syria through Mexico using fake passports, prosecutors said. A sentencing date has not been set. Dozens of people from Minnesota, many of them young Somali-American men, have travelled or attempted to travel overseas to support Islamic State or al Shabaab, a Somalia-based militant group, since 2007, according to U.S. prosecutors. (Reporting by David Bailey; Editing by Eric Beech)