More than 80 mosques in the United States support terrorist organisations, Clarion Project, a non-profit group, has revealed.
The group said in these mosques, firebrand imams have been radicalising Muslim worshippers, encouraging them to become terrorists, the Daily Caller reported.
The Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) has identified and pinpointed these radical mosques throughout the U.S. in a map it prepared.
The map includes 83 – or nearly 4 percent – of the 2,106 mosques in the United States as of 2010, the Daily Caller report said.
Several mosques on the Clarion Project's list stand out.
For instance, Dar al-Hijrah—located just outside Washington in Falls Church, Virginia—was the place of worship for two of the 9/11 hijackers. This mosque's present Imam, Shaker Elsayed, described Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna's teachings as "the closest reflection of how Islam should be in this life," the Daily Caller said
The Brotherhood "seeks to implement Sharia-based governance globally," according to the Clarion Project.
A good number of terrorists received their indoctrination from the Islamic Society of Boston, including the Boston Marathon bombers and al-Qaeda terrorists Aafia Siddiqui, Tarek Mehanna and Ahmad Abousamra, the report said.
The Islamic Center of Tucson was "basically the first cell of al-Qaeda in the United States," terrorism expert Rita Katz told The Washington Post in 2002.
"At least a dozen terror-linked individuals have been tied to the" centre, according to the Clarion Project.
"Islamist extremists have developed a sophisticated network of interconnected organisations across America," Clarion Project said in a statement. "The common thread among these organisations is their ideology of political Islam, which aspires to implement Sharia governance and to establish a global Islamic caliphate."
Last week Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called for the closing down of mosques in the U.S. which, he said, are being used to foment hatred of the U.S. way of life, the International Business Times reported. His comments came days after the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris that killed more than 130 people.
I would hate to do it, but it's something you're going to have to strongly consider, because some of the ideas and some of the hatred is coming from these areas," Trump said on Nov. 16 on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
He said, "Some of the absolute hatred is coming from these areas. The hatred is incredible. It's embedded. The hatred is beyond belief. The hatred is greater than anybody understands."
Trump also blasted New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for preventing the New York Police Department from undertaking a covert surveillance on the Muslim community.
In France, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve called for the "dissolution of mosques where hate is preached."
According to investigations, some of the Paris terrorists appeared to have undergone radicalisation in Belgium.
