U.S. staged mock mall attacks:: Madhee Moseman:: P6

After a siege at a Kenyan mall two years ago, the FBI started staging mock attacks in U.S. shopping centers during off hours to test their readiness, an official said.

More than 60 people died when Al-Shabaab militants raided an upscale mall in Nairobi and held shoppers hostage for four days. The terror group released a video Saturday calling for similar attacks in malls in the United States, Canada and the UK. Although Homeland Security and the FBI say they are not aware of a specific, credible plot against U.S. malls, they've worked to improve security in light of the attack in Kenya. Last year, the FBI teamed up with various malls nationwide to increase preparedness, a law enforcement official told CNN. It tested the readiness of SWAT teams by staging fake attacks at malls when they were closed, the official said.

Since then, the FBI has had a program that works with malls to improve security, the official said.

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Although Al-Shabaab's past attacks have been limited to East Africa, the militants have heavily recruited in Minneapolis, where young men have been slipping away to join the terror group. The city is home to the largest Somali population in the United States.

In addition to Kenya and Somalia, Al-Shabaab has also struck in Uganda, where it killed dozens gathered to watch a World Cup soccer match in Kampala five years ago. Kenya and Uganda have sent their forces to neighboring Smalia to battle the extremists. As the attacks get more daring, the international community has rallied to fight the militants. Last year, a U.S. airstrike in Somalia killed the Al-Shabaab leader. The terror group later replaced him and vowed to avenge his death. Al-Shabaab started off with a goal of waging a war against the Somali government in an effort to implement a stricter form of Islamic law, or Sharia. It has since shifted focus to terrorist attacks in Somalia and beyond.