Alabama woman joins Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria: media

(Reuters) - A 20-year-old woman from a Birmingham, Alabama suburb has left the United States to join the Islamic State militant group in Syria, local broadcaster WIAT reported on Monday.

The report came as U.S. authorities said they have charged six young Somali-American men from Minnesota with planning to join the fighters who have declared an Islamic Caliphate on land they have seized in Syria and neighboring Iraq.

Western countries have become increasingly worried about the numbers of citizens signing up with jihadi groups, fearing they could return to launch attacks at home.

Hoda Muthana made contact with militants through social media and had been distancing herself from other Muslims in Hoover for more than a year before leaving, said family spokesman Hassan Shibly according to WIAT.

Shibly, who is also an attorney and chief executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Florida, said the woman's family was devastated and has been working with authorities since she left, WIAT reported.

"They have been going through unimaginable pain and hardship for the past few months," he told reporters on Monday at a press conference broadcast by WIAT.

Reuters could not independently verify the report. The news of Muthana's departure was first reported by BuzzFeed on Friday.

(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco)

_______________________________________________

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A spokesman for a Muslim couple in Alabama says their 20-year-old daughter fled a Birmingham suburb to join ISIS militants in Syria after being recruited on the Internet.

Attorney Hassan Shibly spoke at a Birmingham mosque on Monday on behalf of the parents of the young woman, whom he identified only as Hoda.

Shibly said Hoda left in November after being "brainwashed" for an undetermined length of time. He says the woman's actions go against the family's wishes and against the teachings of Islam.

The spokesman added that Hoda's family has been in contact with U.S. law enforcement and government officials since she disappeared.

Members of the Birmingham Muslim community were meeting on Monday evening to discuss how to protect other children from the influence of violent extremists.

_______________________________________________

Being this topic is in our Private forums, you may move this into our public ones if you would like Reb. This topic needs to be discussed, being our Children and Grandchildren and many generations to come will endure if we don't stop this shit now. I want to know why we do not have pictures of this young woman. This should be in our newspapers..I found this article on yahoo news. She left in November 2014, why are we hearing about this in April 2015? Our Government needs to get their act together and let the Military take them completely out and quit pussy footing around. Our Country needs a President that acts not hesitates!

With all the crap they are brainwashing college kids with today, I'm surprised there's not more of them joining...

The three university majors today are, hate your country, hate your family and there is no God....