Australian FM: More “young brides” are traveling to join ISIS

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop warned Thursday that 30 to 40 women were among at least 110 Australians who have traveled to the Middle East to fight with ISIS. In an ABC interview, she cited the case of 22-year-old Amira Karroum who left her Sydney home just before Christmas and died in fighting in Syria, and the case of three British girls.  An estimated 550 women from across Europe have also traveled to join the jihadists. Bishop said Australia was working with Muslim communities to highlight the risks. Many women heading to conflict zones were either attracted to male foreign terrorist fighters, were accompanying their partner, or actually looking for a husband and being told online they could find one in Syria and Iraq.

Bishop warned they faced a brutal regime that treated women appallingly. There is no romantic adventure attached to supporting Daesh, Bishop warned.