Women from the Islamic State of Syria and the Levant al-Khansaa Brigade. (Image: SyriaDeeply.org)
Ten out of 71 recruits for the Islamic State [Islamic Caliphate] terror group arrested in the U.S. since 2014 are women, according to a new report which demonstrates that the role of women in the extremist group’s ranks is increasing.
Since March 2014, 71 individuals have been charged with Islamic State-related activities, 56 were arrested in 2015 alone, a record number of terrorism-related arrests for any year since 9/11 according to the report from George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.
Although a majority of Islamic State recruits and supporters tend to be male, an alarming number of women are joining the extremist group and helping to carry out its jihadist agenda.
Researchers identified 300 American and/or U.S.-based Islamic State sympathizers who use social media to radicalize new recruits. About one third of those accounts were operated by women, according to the report.
“A handful of studies have attempted to identify the reasons why ISIS’s ideology attracts a growing number of Western women. While some of these motivations are identical to that of their male counterparts (i.e. the search for a personal identity and the desire to build a strict Islamic society), others are specific to women,” the report says.
The role of women in the Islamic State varies, according to the report, “from propaganda disseminators and recruiters to those as the ‘wife of jihadist husband’ and ‘mother to the next generation.’”
The findings come as investigators are increasingly looking into possible terror connections Tashfeen Malik, the female shooter in the attack on the Inland Regional Center in San. Bernardino, Calif., may have had.
It was revealed on Thursday that Malik, a Pakistani, pledged her allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Facebook as she and her husband, Syed Farook, carried out the deadly shooting, killing 14 people.
Authorities believed the couple may have been radicalized by Islamic extremists either in the U.S. or during trips to the Middle East, including to Saudi Arabia.
The FBI is handling the massacre as a counter-terrorism investigation, but has not yet concluded the motive behind the attack. Authorities said there is evidence to suggest the couple was radicalize, but they have found no definite ties to any terror cells.
