Overview
Yusuf Jama was a U.S. foreign fighter who is believed to have died in battle while fighting for ISIS in late 2014. Jama was a resident of Minneapolis and graduated from high school in August 2012. According to prosecutors, Jama had attempted to join ISIS once before in May 2014 but he and his friend Guled Ali Omar were discouraged from leaving the United States by Omar’s family.Laura Yuen, Mukhtar Ibrahim, and Sasha Aslanian, “Called to fight: Minnesota’s ISIS recruits,” MPR News, March 25, 2015, http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/03/25/minnesota-isis#yjama. Jama successfully managed to leave the United States for Turkey on June 9, 2014.Laura Yuen, Mukhtar Ibrahim, and Sasha Aslanian, “Called to fight: Minnesota’s ISIS recruits,” MPR News, March 25, 2015, http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/03/25/minnesota-isis#yjama.
Jama was one of a significant proportion of U.S. foreign fighters to have emerged from the state of Minnesota.Mike Durkin, “Minnesota responsible for 15 of 58 American ISIS recruits,” Fox 9 News, September 29, 2015, http://www.fox9.com/news/26238851-story.
Associated Groups
- Extremist entity
- ISIS
- Read Threat Report
- Type(s) of Organization:
- Insurgent, territory-controlling, religious, terrorist, violent
- Ideologies and Affiliations:
- Islamist, jihadist, pan-Islamist, Salafist, takfiri
- Position(s):
- Foreign fighter
ISIS is a violent jihadist group based in Iraq and Syria. The group has declared wilayas (provinces) in Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the North Caucasus. ISIS has also waged attacks in Turkey, Lebanon, France, Belgium, Iraq, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Tunisia, and Kuwait.
History
Daily Dose
Extremists: Their Words. Their Actions.
In Their Own Words:
We reiterate once again that the brigades will directly target US bases across the region in case the US enemy commits a folly and decides to strike our resistance fighters and their camps [in Iraq].
Mar. 2023