The FBI now says a Minneapolis man may have been the first U.S. citizen to carry out a terrorist suicide bombing.

FBI Director Robert Mueller said Monday, Shirwa Ahmed, who killed himself in an attack in Somalia in October, was recruited in the United States, specifically in Minnesota.

Mueller spoke in front of the Council on Foreign Relations.

In November, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS broke the story of young Somali men, missing from the Twin Cities and their possible connection to Ahmed.

Several months ago, the FBI and Justice Department began investigating cases of men of Somali descent who returned to Somali to join the conflict between an Islamic militant group and Ethiopian and African Union troops. The agency confirmed to ABC News that some of the men returned to the U.S. after fighting in Somalia.

The FBI has been looking at possible cases in Minneapolis, Boston, Columbus, Ohio, Seattle, San Diego and Washington DC.

US officials believe that the group could merge with elements of Al Qaeda's east African network and further gain influence destabilizing the region.

Mueller said, "World politics often shape terrorist and criminal threats against the United States… A crisis in the horn of Africa may well have a ripple effect in Minneapolis."