6:39PM EST: The leader of what federal authorities describe as a fundamentalist group was shot and killed today during a series of raids in Dearborn and Detroit that resulted in 10 arrests.

Luqman Ameen Abdullah, 53, also known as Christopher Thomas, was gunned down after refusing to surrender and opening fire when the FBI raided a Dearborn warehouse, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“The eleven defendants are members of a group that is alleged to have engaged in violent activity over a period of many years and known to be armed,” according to a joint statement from the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office.

An FBI dog was also killed during one of the raids.

Abdullah and 10 others were charged in a complaint with conspiracy to commit several federal felony crimes, including illegal possession and sale of firearms and theft from interstate shipments.

Abdullah was the leader of a group which calls itself “Ummah, a group of mostly African-American converts to Islam, which seeks to establish a separate Sharia-law governed state within the United States,” the press release states.

“The Ummah is ruled by Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rapp Brown, who is serving a state sentence… for the murder of two police officers in Georgia.”

The case was worked by the FBI, Detroit Police, U.S. Attorney’s Office and Joint Terrorism Task Force.

The raids took place at at least two locations today – a trucking business in Dearborn and a home in Detroit.

Three of the suspects are expected to appear in U.S. District Court in Detroit today.

Detroit Police spokesman John Roach and Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad declined to comment. Both said the matter was being handled by FBI.

The men arrested in the raid were part of a Detroit mosque where a leader called for “an offensive jihad,” according to the criminal complaint.

Eleven Muslim men were charged in the complaint. One of them is in custody, two are at loose, and seven appeared today in U.S. District Court, said the U.S. Attorney’s office. Six of those men appeared on complaints they received or sold good stolen across interstate lines.

Luqman Abdullah “regularly preaches anti-government and anti-law enforcement rhetoric,” the complaint said.

The complaint says that Abdullah is “a highly placed leader of a nationwide radical fundamentalist Sunni group consisting primarily of African-Americans, some of whom converted to Islam while they were serving sentences in various prisons across the United States. Their primary mission is to establish a separate, sovereign Islamic state (“The Ummah”) within the borders of the United States, governed by Shariah law.”

THE OFFICIAL FBI STATEMENT: United States Attorney Terrence Berg, Eastern District of Michigan, Andrew G. Arena, Special Agent in Charge (SAC), Federal Bureau of Investigation, (FBI), Detroit, Michigan, and Police Chief Warren Evans, Detroit Police Department (DPD), Detroit, Michigan announced a federal complaint was unsealed today charging Luqman Ameen Abdullah, a.k.a.Christopher Thomas, and 10 others with conspiracy to commit several federal crimes, including theft from interstate shipments, mail fraud to obtain the proceeds of arson, illegal possession and sale of firearms, and tampering with motor vehicle identification numbers. The eleven defendants are members of a group that is alleged to have engaged in violent activity over a period of many years, and known to be armed.

In light of the information that the charged individuals were believed to be armed and dangerous, special safeguards were employed by law enforcement to secure the arrests without confrontation. During the arrests today, the suspects were ordered to surrender. At one location, four suspects surrendered and were arrested without incident. Luqman Ameen Abdullah did not surrender and fired his weapon. An exchange of gun fire followed and Abdullah was killed. An FBI canine was also killed during the exchange.

Abdullah was the leader of part of a group which calls themselves Ummah (“the brotherhood”), a group of mostly African-American converts to Islam, which seeks to establish a separate Sharia-law governed state within the United States. The Ummah is ruled by Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rapp Brown, who is serving a state sentence in USP Florence, CO, ADMAX, for the murder of two police officers in Georgia. As detailed in the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint that was unsealed today, Abdullah has espoused the use of violence against law enforcement, and has trained members of his group in use of firearms and martial arts in anticipation of some type of action against the government. Abdullah and other members of this group were known to carry firearms and other weapons.

(Source: Freep.com / YWN-55 / YWN World Headquarters – NYC)