The American woman accused of joining terrorism, spending years leading and training an all-female unit in conflicts, and wanting to carry out deadly attacks at a college campus and shopping mall in the U.S., is due to make her first court appearance in Virginia on Monday.
Allison Fluke-Ekren, 42, has been charged with providing material support to a terrorist organization, the U.S. attorney announced Saturday. She is scheduled to appear at U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, on Monday at 2 p.m. ET.
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Fluke-Ekren, a former resident of Kansas, wanted to recruit operatives to attack a college campus in the U.S. and detailed how she would carry out a terrorist bombing on a shopping mall, prosecutors said.
Allison Fluke-Ekren, a 42-year-old former Kansas resident, allegedly wanted to carry out terrorist attacks on a college campus and shopping mall in the U.S., according to federal authorities.
(Alexandria Sheriff’s Office)
She allegedly described how she could park a vehicle “full of explosives” in the basement or parking garage of the targeted mall and detonate the vehicle with a cellphone device.
She told one witness that “she considered any attack that did not kill a large number of individuals to be a waste of resources,” according to an FBI affidavit.
Fluke-Ekren allegedly became leader of an ISIS unit called “Khatiba Nusaybah” in the Syrian city of Raqqa in late 2016.
The U.S. attorney in Alexandria announced Saturday that Allison Fluke-Ekren has been charged with providing material support to a terrorist organization. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)
She trained the battalion, which was comprised solely of female ISIS members who were married to male ISIS fighters, in the use of AK-47 rifles, grenades and suicide belts, according to the affidavit.
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Her alleged leadership duties also included training children on the use of AK-47 assault rifles and suicide belts, and teaching extremist ISIS doctrine.
If convicted, Fluke-Ekren faces up to 20 years in prison.
Fox News’ Timothy H.J. Nerozzi and The Associated Press contributed to this report.