MINNESOTA Radicalization fears rise after mall stabbings

ST. CLOUD, Minn. — The stabbings of 10 people at a Minnesota mall look to be the work of a “lone attacker,” officials said Monday, and federal authorities are investigating whether it was an act of terrorism in an immigrant-rich state that has struggled to stop the recruiting of its young men by groups including the Islamic State.

“We haven’t uncovered anything that would suggest other than a lone attacker at this point,” St. Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson said at a news conference with Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton. “If that changes, we will be transparent about that.”

A young Somali man dressed as a private security guard entered the Crossroads Center mall Saturday wielding what appeared to be a kitchen knife. Anderson has said the man reportedly made at least one reference to Allah and asked a victim if he or she was Muslim before attacking. The man was shot dead by an off-duty police officer. None of the injured suffered life-threatening wounds.

The motive of Saturday’s attack is still unclear, but FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Rick Thornton has said it is being investigated as a “potential act of terrorism.” The Islamic State claimed responsibility, but it wasn’t clear whether the attacker was radicalized. Authorities were examining his background and possible motives, looking at social media accounts and electronic devices and talking to his associates, Thornton said.

Leaders of Minnesota’s large Somali community have condemned the stabbings, saying the suspect — identified by his father as 20-year-old Dahir Adan — does not represent them and expressing fear of a backlash.

Experts say that if Saturday’s stabbings are ultimately deemed a terrorist act, it would be the first carried out by a Somali on U.S. soil. An Islamic State-run news agency said Sunday that the attacker was a “soldier of the Islamic State” who had heeded the group’s calls for attacks in countries that are part of a U.S.-led anti-Islamic State coalition, but it wasn’t immediately known whether the extremist group had planned the attack or knew about it beforehand.

The mall reopened Monday after being closed Sunday.

Jason Wachter / St. Cloud (Minn.) Times St. Cloud (Minn.) Police Chief Blair Anderson says evidence suggests the attacker operated alone in a stabbing rampage that injured nine people Saturday.