Somali pleads guilty to 9 terrorism charges in US

A former top leader of a Somali terror group, who also had ties to al Qaeda, secretly pleaded guilty in 2011 to federal charges and has provided the US government with valuable intelligence information, the US Justice Department said on Monday.Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame was a leader of al-Shabaab in Somalia and arranged a weapons deal at one time with Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, according to court documents.The US military captured him at sea in April 2011 while he was traveling from Yemen to Somalia. He pleaded guilty in New York the following December to nine terrorism charges, the (CNN) reported.Among other things, Warsame admitted to conspiring to provide material support to al-Shabaab and al Qaeda’s operation in the Arabian Peninsula, conspiracy to teach others how to make bombs, and receiving military-type training from a terrorist organization.Warsame, now in his mid 20s, faces up to life in prison. A law enforcement official said he could get a lighter sentence if he “provides substantial assistance” to the United States. (QNA)