The FBI has arrested an American lady who federal prosecutors mentioned had risen by means of the ranks of the Islamic State group in Syria to grow to be a battalion commander, coaching girls and youngsters to make use of assault rifles and suicide belts, the Justice Department disclosed Saturday.
The lady, Allison Fluke-Ekren, 42, a former trainer from Kansas, was charged with offering materials help to a terrorist group. The circumstances of her seize in Syria weren’t instantly recognized, however the FBI flew her to Virginia on Friday to face prosecution.
Prosecutors described Fluke-Ekren as enjoying an unusually outsized function within the Islamic State as a girl and an American. Charges towards American girls concerned with the militant group have been uncommon.
Fluke-Ekren was smuggled into Syria in 2012 from Libya, court docket paperwork mentioned. She traveled to the nation, in line with one witness, as a result of she wished to wage “violent jihad,” Raj Parekh, a federal prosecutor, wrote in a detention memo that was made public Saturday.
According to a prison criticism that was filed in 2019, a witness advised the FBI that Fluke-Ekren and her husband introduced $15,000 to Syria and used the cash to purchase weapons. Her husband, the witness mentioned, was the commander of snipers for the Islamic State group; he later was killed by an airstrike whereas attempting to conduct a terrorist assault, investigators mentioned. Fluke-Ekren had met him within the United States, in line with court docket paperwork.
The identical witness additionally advised the FBI that Fluke-Ekren had a plan in 2014 to assault a university within the United States utilizing a backpack crammed with explosives. Prosecutors didn’t reveal which school she had wished to focus on. The prison criticism mentioned her plan was offered to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the chief of the Islamic State on the time, who permitted funding for it, however that the assault was placed on maintain after Fluke-Ekren discovered she was pregnant. Fluke-Ekren had a number of youngsters, however it isn’t clear what number of.
Prosecutors mentioned Fluke-Ekren moved to Egypt in 2008, lived there for about three years after which traveled to Libya, the place she stayed for a few yr earlier than sneaking into Syria. According to at least one witness, Fluke-Ekren departed Libya as a result of one other terrorist group, Ansar al-Sharia, was not conducting assaults in that nation and she or he wished to wage violent jihad.
In his memo arguing to maintain Fluke-Ekren behind bars whereas she awaits trial, Parekh mentioned she had been a “fervent believer in the radical terrorist ideology of ISIS for many years.” The prosecutor mentioned the federal government had quite a few witnesses who have been ready to testify towards her.
According to the detention memo, the mayor of the Syrian metropolis of Raqqa, the Islamic State group’s self-proclaimed capital, permitted the opening of an all-female navy battalion. Fluke-Ekren, investigators mentioned, quickly grew to become the chief and organizer of it.
Witnesses mentioned Fluke-Ekren taught courses for members of the battalion, and on one event, a younger baby of hers was seen holding a machine gun. More than 100 girls and ladies acquired coaching from her, one witness mentioned.
Fluke-Ekren had hoped to create a cadre of suicide bombers that might infiltrate enemies’ positions, however the effort by no means materialized, in line with the criticism. She additionally advised a witness about her need to assault a shopping center within the United States utilizing a remote-detonated car stuffed with explosives.
Court paperwork mentioned that after the dying of her husband, Fluke-Ekren married one other Islamic State terrorist, a Bangladeshi man who specialised in drones and labored on a plan to drop chemical bombs utilizing them. He additionally died. She then married an Islamic State navy chief who was answerable for the protection of Raqqa, a witness mentioned.
Fluke-Ekren advised a witness that she had tried to ship a message to her household with the objective of tricking them into believing she was lifeless so the U.S. authorities wouldn’t attempt to discover her. Fluke-Ekren additionally mentioned that she by no means wished to return to the United States and wished to die a martyr in Syria, in accordance the witness.
Federal prosecutors in Virginia have mounted an aggressive effort to prosecute terrorists captured abroad. The circumstances will be extraordinarily troublesome as a result of witnesses and different proof can usually solely be present in warfare zones, in addition to due to geopolitical issues.
Last yr, Mohammed Khalifa, a Saudi-born Canadian who traveled to Syria in 2013 and later joined the Islamic State, was dropped at the United States and charged with offering materials help to a terrorist group that resulted in dying. Khalifa supplied the narration and translation for about 15 movies created and distributed by the militant group. He later pleaded responsible and faces life in jail.
Two British males, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey, who have been a part of an Islamic State cell of 4 Britons referred to as “the Beatles,” have been dropped at the United States in 2020 to face expenses. The group, which was on condition that nickname by its victims due to the accents of its members, kidnapped and abused greater than two dozen hostages, together with American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, each of whom have been beheaded in propaganda movies.
Kotey pleaded responsible to his function within the deaths of 4 Americans in Syria. He faces life in jail. Elsheikh has pleaded not responsible and awaits trial.
