The three schoolgirls who ran away from their east London home to join the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) in Syria have reportedly joined a “fearsome group” made up of British female jihadis, according to the Daily Mail.
Renowned for administering “savage beatings” and “forcing children as young as nine to marry,” the all-female militia reportedly operates ISIS’ sharia police force.
The ISIS police issues punishments for activities deemed to be in violation of the harsh version of Islamic law imposed on the areas controlled by the terrorist group.
TRAC (Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium), a U.S.-based terrorism research organization, identified the all-female ISIS brigade as al-Khansaa, which is suspected of being based in the Syrian city of Raqqa where the three British girls are believed to be living.
The three girls — Shamima Begum and Amira Abase, both 15, and Kadiza Sultana, 16 — reportedly crossed into Syria through Turkey in February, almost a year after ISIS announced the formation of al-Khansaa.
ISIS assembled the female militia in February 2014 “with the purpose of exposing male activists who disguise in women’s clothing to avoid detention when stopping at the ISIL checkpoints,” said TRAC.
The jihadist group “requires women to be single and aged between 18 and 25 as conditions for joining the brigade. Each female will receive a monthly salary of 25,000 Syrian liras (less than $200 USD) and is only allowed to be employed within the brigade,” revealed the monitoring group.
One of the girls, Begum, established a relationship on social media with three of the British leaders of the female group.
“It is understood the [three British girls] are now training with one of the notorious females arms of ISIS,” reports the Daily Mail.
“Covered in black from head-to-toe and wielding automatic weapons, the [all-female] group has been accused of doling out savage beatings on the streets of Raqqa and spying on its citizens,” mentions the article.”They are said to mercilessly patrol the streets of the terror group’s adopted capital and has previously declared that children as young as nine should be married, women should obey men – who are their masters – and remain ‘hidden and veiled’ at all times.”
The Syrian activist group “Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently” observes that local women fear “the female fanatics … particularly due to their use of torture.”
At the end of last year, the activist group accused the female brigade of torturing imprisoned women with a “biter,” described as an “instrument which is a sharp object somewhat similar to the traps used by hunters to catch wild animals … composed of two iron jaws including sharp pointed tusks.” Apparently, brigade members put it on women’s “chest[s] and compressed it firmly, causing severe pain and wounds … [that led] women in some cases to be transported to the hospital.”
“Many women were tortured with this instrument in Raqqa city recently, this was the talk of the street in Raqqa,” reported the activist group. “One case, a woman who breastfeeds her little baby in a bus station in Raqqa city center, was arrested by [the Khansaa] battalion and was tortured with the ‘biter,’ causing widespread controversy and popular discontent among civilians.”
An al-Khansaa faction known as “Om Amara” is reportedly led by Aqsa Mahmoud, a 20-year-old woman from Glasgow, Scotland, who fled to Syria in 2013.
Begum reached Mahmood through social media prior to departing London for Turkey.
“Begum also used her Twitter account to follow two other members of the [al-Khansaa] brigade known only by their Islamic names Umm Khattab and Umm Waqqas,” reports the Daily Mail.
British women jihadists have reportedly launched a persistent recruitment campaign on social media in the last few months. They are suspected of running a female-only jihadi route for European girls groomed to flee their Western lives for the Caliphate.
Other teenage British jihadis who left for Syria are thought to be training with al-Khansaa.
“Security services say that 600 British Muslims have gone to fight in Syria and around 60 of them are young women,” notes the Daily Mail.
Follow Edwin Mora on Twitter: @EdwinMora83.
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