Kansas woman led female ISIS battalion in Syria, prosecutors say
An American woman from Kansas who allegedly joined ISIS and led an all-woman battalion in Syria has been arrested and charged by federal prosecutors with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
Allison Fluke-Ekren, 42, was apprehended in Syria earlier and was transferred to FBI custody Friday, according to the criminal complaint and a Saturday news release from the Department of Justice. 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 Justice Department statement says.
The complaint was filed under seal in 2019 but made public Saturday after Fluke-Ekren was brought back to the US from Syria to face charges, according to the news release.
While in Syria, Fluke-Ekren was also appointed, prosecutors say, to lead and train women and children to use AK-47 assault rifles, grenades and suicide belts for ISIS starting in 2016.
Her first appearance will be Monday at a federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, the Justice Department said. If convicted, Fluke-Ekren, faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. She has not yet entered a plea, according to the news release, and CNN has not yet been able to determine if she has an attorney.
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