Washington ? The government announced Thursday that it has charged 14 people as participants in “a deadly pipeline” to Somalia that routed money and fighters from the United States to the terrorist group al-Shabab.

The indictments unsealed in Minneapolis, San Diego and Mobile, Ala., reflect “a disturbing trend” of recruitment efforts targeting U.S. residents to become terrorists, Attorney General Eric Holder told a news conference. In one case, two women pleaded for money “to support violent jihad in Somalia,” according to an indictment.

The attorney general credited Muslim community leaders in the United States for regularly denouncing terrorists and for providing critical assistance to law enforcement to help disrupt terrorist plots and combat radicalization. “We must … work to prevent this type of radicalization from ever taking hold,” Holder said.

Of the 14 people charged at least half are U.S. citizens and 12 of them are out of the country, including 10 men from Minnesota who allegedly left to join al-Shabab.