WASHINGTON — The government charged 14 people today as participants in "a deadly pipeline" that routed money and fighters from the United States to the terrorist group al-Shabab in Somalia.

The cases in Minnesota, California and Alabama reflect "a disturbing trend" of recruitment efforts targeting U.S. residents to become terrorists, Attorney General Eric Holder told a news conference.

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.

At least seven of the 14 people charged are U.S. citizens and 10 of them, all from Minnesota, allegedly left the United States to join al-Shabab. Seven of the 10 had been charged previously in the probe.

Al-Shabab is a Somali insurgent faction embracing a radical form of Islam similar to the harsh, conservative brand practiced by Afghanistan's Taliban regime. Its fighters, numbering several thousand strong, are battling Somalia's weakened government and have been branded a terrorist group with ties to al-Qaida by the U.S. and other Western countries.