That affidavit from FBI Particular Agent David Robins additionally alleges that Fluke-Ekren turned chief of an Islamic State unit referred to as “Khatiba Nusaybah” within the Syrian metropolis of Raqqa in late 2016. The all-female unit was skilled in using AK-47 rifles, grenades and suicide belts.
In all, the affidavit cites observations from six completely different witnesses, together with some who’ve been charged with terrorism offenses and a few who have been held at jail camps for former Islamic state members.
A detention memo filed Friday by First Assistant U.S. Lawyer Raj Parekh states that Fluke-Ekren even skilled youngsters the way to use assault rifles, and that no less than one witness noticed certainly one of Fluke-Ekren’s youngsters, roughly 5 or 6 years outdated, holding a machine gun within the household’s dwelling in Syria.
“Fluke-Ekren has been a fervent believer within the radical terrorist ideology of ISIS for a few years, having traveled to Syria to commit or help violent jihad. Fluke-Ekren translated her extremist beliefs into motion by serving because the appointed chief and organizer of an ISIS army battalion, instantly coaching girls and youngsters in using AK-47 assault rifles, grenades, and suicide belts to help the Islamic State’s murderous goals,” Parekh wrote.
In line with court docket papers, Fluke-Ekren moved to Egypt in 2008 and traveled regularly between Egypt and the U.S. over the following three years. She has not been within the U.S. since 2011.
Prosecutors imagine she moved to Syria round 2012. In early 2016, her husband was killed within the Syrian metropolis of Inform Abyad whereas attempting to hold out a terrorist assault, prosecutors mentioned. Later that 12 months, prosecutors say she married a Bangladeshi ISIS member who specialised in drones, however he died in late 2016 or early 2017.
4 months after that man’s demise, she once more remarried a outstanding Islamic state chief who was chargeable for the Islamic State group’s protection of Raqqa.
She informed one witness in 2018 that she instructed an individual in Syria to inform Fluke-Ekren’s Household she was lifeless so the U.S. authorities wouldn’t attempt to discover her, in response to Parekh’s memo.
Pictures from a household weblog referred to as 4KansasKids present her and her youngsters within the years they traveled between Kansas and Egypt, posing on the base of the pyramids in Egypt and taking part in within the snow within the U.S.
A 2004 article about homeschooling within the Lawrence Journal-World featured Fluke-Ekren and her youngsters. She informed the paper she pulled her youngsters from public college as a result of she was dissatisfied with how her youngsters have been performing in private and non-private colleges. Homeschooling allowed her to show Arabic to her youngsters.
Courtroom papers don’t point out how she was captured, or how lengthy she was in custody earlier than being turned over to the FBI Friday.
She is scheduled to make an preliminary look at U.S. District Courtroom in Alexandria on Monday, at which period she would probably be appointed an legal professional.