(CNN) — An ISIS fighter from Kansas who led and trained a unique battalion of more than 100 women and girls in Syria pleaded guilty Tuesday in an Alexandria, Virginia, court to conspiring to provide support to the global terror organization.
Allison Elizabeth Fluke-Ekren, who studied biology at the University of Kansas, traveled to Syria around 2012 to wage violent jihad, having lived in Libya, Turkey and Egypt, working with another terrorist group, Ansar al-Sharia, according to the plea agreement. She joined ISIS with her second husband, who was leading an ISIS sniper group in the country and was later killed in 2016 by an airstrike.
This undated photo provided by the Alexandria, Virginia Sheriff’s Office in January 2022 shows 42-year-old Allison Fluke-Ekren
During her time in Syria, Fluke-Ekren led a group of more than 100 female ISIS fighters, some of whom were as young as 10 at the time, training them in the use of AK-47s, grenades and suicide belts. During Tuesday’s hearing, Ella Fluke-Ekren claimed that she was unaware that some of the fighters she was training were underage at the time, saying “we don’t intentionally train any girls.”
Some of these women may choose to testify at sentencing, prosecutors said, adding that they faced “lifelong trauma” from Fluke-Ekren.
According to her plea agreement with the Justice Department, in 2012 Fluke-Ekren helped her then-husband analyze US documents he had stolen in the 9/11 attacks on a US mission and diplomatic annex in Benghazi. where US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other US citizens died. Both provided the Ansar al-Sharia terrorist group with the documents, as well as summaries of the information they had prepared.
During his time with ISIS, Fluke-Ekren also discussed plans for terrorist attacks on US soil, including parking a van packed with explosives under a shopping mall, and told a witness that any attack that didn’t kill a large number of people it was a waste of resources.
Fluke-Ekren was arrested in Syria and taken into US custody in January, where she was charged with providing and conspiring to provide material support or resources to ISIS.
When Judge Leonie Brinkema mentioned that Fluke-Ekren had “quite a few children,” and asked if they were a reason she might feel pressured to plead guilty, Fluke-Ekren broke down in tears. She faces a maximum of 20 years in prison. Her sentencing is scheduled for October 25.