Former Kansan Pleads Guilty To Terrorism

A former Kansas woman who prosecutors say led an all-female battalion of Islamic State militants in Syria has pleaded guilty.

Allison Fluke-Ekren broke down sobbing after admitting in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia to conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, a charge that carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence.

The guilty plea resolves a criminal case that came to light in January after Fluke-Ekren, 42 was brought to the U.S. to face accusations that she led an Islamic State unit of women and young girls, and trained them in the use of automatic rifles, grenades, and suicide belts.

More than 100 women and young girls received training.

A prosecutor said that her parents and adult children want nothing to do with her.

She told the Lawrence Journal-World in 2004 that she pulled her children out of public school in part because she wanted them to learn Arabic.