One of the two Somali-Canadian women believed to have been lured from Toronto by the Al Shabaab is the niece of the prime minister of Somalia, sources say, and efforts are being made at the highest level in that country to get her out of the “clutches” of the outlawed terrorist group.

“I can’t talk about a specific case,” Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, the prime minister of Somalia told the Star in an interview from Mogadishu on Sunday.

“There are lots of children who are here from either Canada or United States . . . Shabaab is recruiting kids from everywhere,” he said. “Some are as young as 13.”

Two young Somali-Canadian women disappeared from Toronto in early January and travelled to Somalia where they are believed to have joined Shabaab.

One of them, a 19-year-old student at the University of Toronto, is the niece of Zeinab Moallim, Mohamed’s wife, sources told the Star.

The teenager left Toronto in early January with her best friend and has since emailed her family to tell them that she is in Somalia.

Mohamed, an American citizen with family in Buffalo, N.Y., has been the prime minister of the war-torn country since October 2010 and he and his wife have family in Toronto.

While this is the first known case of women being recruited by the Shabaab in North America, it’s not clear if Mohamed’s niece was specifically targeted by the terror group because of her family links.

“It’s classic Shabaab arrogance,” said Omar Jamal, who works with the United Nations’ Somali mission in New York, adding that the ramifications are enormous. “The prime minister is committed to defeating those terrorists and they are brainwashing his family members.”

The Somali diaspora is in shock and everyone is talking about the incident, Jamal said. “It’s terrifying because it shows that no one is safe from the long hand of the Shabaab.”

Sources in Toronto said the families are trying to “rescue” the two women from the terrorist group.

Mohamed politely declined to comment about what he, or his government, are doing about it.

Governments in the West cannot “wait until these crazy people here recruit youngsters,” he said. “Shabaab uses the Internet and goes into people’s home. Something has to be done to stop them.”

It’s very tough to get out of Shabaab’s stranglehold, said Jamal.

“Once these young people get there, it is quite difficult. Even if they change their mind, Shabaab kills them because they don’t want anyone to leave.”

In Toronto, a family member of the missing 19-year-old who did not want to be identified said “the Shabaab is doing this to embarrass the prime minister.”

The two women lived in the city’s west-end and their families have said they had no idea how they were radicalized. Since leaving, they have emailed their families a few times, a friend of the family said.

The Shabaab, an Al Qaeda-inspired movement, has a savvy online presence, which has been blamed as a possible reason for the disappearance of more than two dozen Somali-American men from Minneapolis, Minn., and six young Canadians in 2009. The group has been deemed a terrorist organization by the U.S. and Canada.

Mohamed Hersi, a 25-year-old Somali-Canadian man was arrested on Tuesday night at Pearson airport. Police allege he was planning to make his way to Somalia to join the Shabaab.

The Scarborough man is facing terror-related charges.

These recent incidents involving Toronto residents have rattled the Somali diaspora and community leaders fear other young people will be targeted as long as they feel alienated in North America.

Meanwhile, Mohamed, the prime minister of Somalia, said his government has captured some areas that Shabaab controlled, including parts of Mogadishu and south-western Somalia.

“The Shabaab is on run,” he said. “We are giving them a real fight.”

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Toronto Star

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