MINNEAPOLIS – Mahad Abdiaziz Abdiraham pleaded guilty last week for the stabbing of two men at the Mall of America last November.
On November 12, Abdiraham, 20, stabbed two brothers in a dressing room at the mall’s Macy’s. Local media outlets initially reported the stabbing as “interrupted theft.” However, a statement read by Abdiraham’s attorney during the plea hearing confirmed it was an “act of Jihad in the way of Allah.”
In the statement, according to KSTP, Abdiraham said the stabbing was a “call for jihad by the Chief of Believer, Abu-bakr Al-baghdadi, may Allah protect him, and by the Mujahiden of the Islamic State.”
“I understand that the two men I stabbed know and have explained the reason for my attack, and I am here reaffirming that it was indeed an act of Jihad in the way of Allah,” he continued.
Abdiraham also chillingly added that Americans will not be safe as long as “your country is at war with Islam.”
Even more unsettling, a Somali activist Omar Jamal confirmed the sentiment with KSTP, saying it “is a widespread sentiment with Somali youth.” Jamal told KSTP that the federal government’s effort to keep would-be jihadists from traveling abroad and being radicalized has had “unintended consequences locally.”
The two victims in the stabbing are currently out of the country, but are expected to return for Adbiraham’s sentencing in February. Authorities have yet to determine if the stabbing was an act of terrorism.
