American woman charged with leading ISIS battalion in Syria

QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the US arrested an American woman from Kansas in charge of leading a female ISIS battalion in Syria.

Allison Fluke-Ekren, 42, and a mother of five, known as “Umm Muhammad al-Amriki” who allegedly joined ISIS and led an all-woman battalion in Syria has been arrested and charged by federal prosecutors with providing and conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a statement yesterday.

She was previously apprehended in Syria and transferred into the custody of the FBI two days ago, the DOJ said.   

Fluke-Ekren allegedly wanted to recruit operatives to attack a US college campus and is accused of discussing a terrorist attack on a shopping mall, the DOJ added.   

The statement pointed out that Fluke-Ekren traveled to Syria several years ago and involved with a number of terrorisim-related activities on behalf of ISIS such as planning and recruiting operatives for a potential future attack on a college campus inside the US and serving as the appointed leader and organizer of an ISIS military battalion known as Khatiba Nusaybah in order to train women on the use of automatic firing AK-47 assault rifles, grenades and suicide belts.  

“Additionally, Fluke-Ekren allegedly provided ISIS members with services, which included providing lodging, translating speeches made by ISIS leaders, training children on the use of AK-47 assault rifles and suicide belts and teaching extremist ISIS doctrine.”     

Her first appearance will be tomorrow, Monday, at a federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia. If convicted, Fluke-Ekren, faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. She has not yet entered a plea, according to the Justice Department.