Feds: Kansas woman led all-female Islamic State battalion

By MATTHEW BARAKAT
Associated Press

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — A woman who once lived in Kansas has been arrested after federal prosecutors charged her with joining the Islamic State group and leading an all-female battalion of AK-47 wielding militants. The U.S. Attorney in Alexandria, Virginia, announced Saturday that 42-year-old Allison Fluke-Ekren has been charged with providing material support to a terrorist organization. Prosecutors say Fluke-Ekren wanted to recruit operatives to attack a college campus in the U.S. and discussed a terrorist attack on a shopping mall. An FBI affidavit also alleges that Fluke-Ekren became leader of an Islamic State unit called “Khatiba Nusaybah” in the Syrian city of Raqqa in late 2016. The all-female unit was trained in the use of AK-47 rifles, grenades and suicide belts.