A forty two rear old American, a former battalion commander has been arrested of the dreaded Islamic State in Syria. According to the FBI, Allison Fluke-Ekren trained women and children to use assault rifles and suicide belts.

The New York Times reports that she was charged with providing material support to a terrorist organization. Sources said she was captured in Syria and the F.B.I. flew her to Virginia on Friday to face prosecution.

Charges against American women involved with the Islamic State have been rare.

Ms. Fluke-Ekren was smuggled into Syria in 2012 from Libya. A witness said She travelled to Syria, , because she wanted to wage “violent jihad.”

Allison along with her husband had brought $16,000 to Syria and used it to buy weapons. Her husband was the commander of snipers for the Islamic State. He was killed by an airstrike while conducting a terrorist attack.

After the death of her husband, she married a Bangladeshi man. He was an expert on drones and was planning to drop chemical bombs using them. He also died and then she married an Islamic State military leader who was responsible for the defence of Raqqa.

The mayor of the Syrian city of Raqqa, the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed capital, approved the opening of an all-female military battalion. Ms. Fluke-Ekren, investigators said, soon became the leader and organizer of it.

Allison has trained more than 100 women and girls. On one occasion one of her child was seen holding a machine gun.

She had plans to attack a college and a shopping mall in the United States with explosives.
Federal prosecutors in Virginia have mounted an aggressive effort to prosecute terrorists captured in other countries.

The cases can be extremely difficult because witnesses and other evidence can often only be found in war zones, as well as because of geopolitical considerations.

Based on an NYT article. Content writer: Nishant Mishra

  ISIS, Jihad, terrorism, United States