Two young Americans revealed that they joined an al Qaeda-linked group in war-torn Somalia so they could die fighting in a Muslim holy war, it was reported yesterday.

The two men are believed to be among the more than 20 young Somali-Americans who vanished from the Minneapolis area and three other states to join a training camp of the terrorist al-Shabab organization.

POSTSCRIPT: AMERICAN TERRORISTS

The two, who used the names Abu-Muslim and Abu Yaxye, spoke out for the first time at a bizarre "press conference" in Somalia on Sunday, Fox News reported.

"We came from the US with a good life and a good education, but we came to fight alongside our brothers of al-Shabab . . . to be killed for the sake of God," one of the men said.

Al-Shabab seeks to overthrow Somalia's government and establish a militant Muslim leadership over the East African nation.

The two men said they are stationed near Kismayo in southern Somalia but "many" other Somali-Americans are "all over Somalia to join the jihad."

Omar Jamal, of St. Paul's Somali Justice Advocacy Center, said the video was the youths' way of going public with their conversion to fanaticism.

"I think they wanted to make clear to the Somali young people everywhere why they're there," he told The Post.

The FBI, which obtained a copy of the video, has been investigating the Minneapolis disappearances for several months and subpoenaed at least 10 people to testify before a federal grand jury, Fox News reported.

An FBI spokesman would not say whether the men in the video had been identified.