World enews: Kansas woman accused of leading all-female battalion of Isis fighters and planning attack on US college

A mother who lived in Kansas has been arrested on charges of being a member of Isis – and of having led an all-female battalion of militants trained in the use of AK 47s, grenades and suicide belts.

Allison Fluke-Ekren was turned over to the FBI on Friday and is due to appear in court in Alexandria, Virginia, on Monday. The circumstances of her arrest were not immediately released although she is known to have been living in Egypt in recent years.

The 42-year-old is also suspected of having tried to recruit militants to launch an attack on a college campus in the US or a shopping mall.

A criminal complaint against her was filed under seal in 2019 but was only made public on Saturday after she was returned to the country to face charges.

The US Attorney in Alexandria said she had been charged with providing material support to a terrorist organisation.

The FBI claims in an affidavit that she became leader of an all-female Isis battalion called Khatiba Nusaybah in the Syrian city of Raqqa in 2016. Members were trained in the use of firearms, grenades and suicide vests.

She is also accused of teaching children to use assault weapons. A witness cited in a detention memo says one of her children, aged about five or six, was seen in her home handling a weapon.

In the memo US Attorney Raj Parekh writes: “Fluke-Ekren has been a fervent believer in the radical terrorist ideology of ISIS for many years, having traveled to Syria to commit or support violent jihad. Fluke-Ekren translated her extremist beliefs into action by serving as the appointed leader and organizer of an ISIS military battalion, directly training women and children in the use of AK-47 assault rifles, grenades, and suicide belts to support the Islamic State’s murderous aims.”

She reportedly moved to Egypt in 2008 and travelled between there and the United States for several years, although she has apparently not been in the US since 2011.

Ms Fluke-Ekren is thought to have moved to Syria in 2012. Her husband was killed in the Syrian city of Tell Abyad while trying to carry out a terrorist attack, US prosecutors say, after which she married a Bangladeshi Isis member who specialised in drones. He is thought to have been killed in 2016 or 2017.

After his death she is believed to have married a senior Isis member who was responsible for the defence of Raqqa.

US and British forces have been engaged in some of the heaviest fighting against Isis forces in Syria since the fall of the self-declared caliphate in 2019.

Clashes began on Thursday when hundreds of Isis fighters attacked a prison in the northeastern Syrian city of Hassakeh in an attempt to free an estimated 3,000 of their fellow fighters, who have been detained there since the extremist group was defeated in its last stronghold in March 2019.