Somali youths discuss radicalization at Ohio forum

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

The imam of a central Ohio mosque says the area’s Somali community has tried to prevent radicalization among its younger members in recent years.

Imam Mohamed Hassan spoke Friday during a forum about crime and radicalization among Somali youth and ways to prevent problems, The Columbus Dispatch reported Saturday.

The gathering included Somali youths and law enforcement.

Somali leaders in Ohio and nationally have long been concerned that too many disenfranchised Somali boys leave school and join gangs or in some cases are recruited by overseas terrorist groups.

Columbus has the second highest concentration of Somali immigrants in the United States, after Minneapolis.