US Woman Aimed to Go to Syria for ’Jihad’: FBI

Local Editor

A 19-year-old US woman who said she was intended on waging "jihad" in the Middle East was arrested in April as she boarded a flight she hoped would ultimately get her to Syria, court documents unsealed on Wednesday show.

Shannon Maureen Conley had told agents that she wanted to use her American military training from the US Army Explorers to start a "holy" war overseas, even though she knew it was illegal, according to the federal court records.

Conley has been charged with conspiring to help a foreign terrorist organization.

The US woman was arrested on April 8 at Denver International Airport, where she told agents she planned to live with a suitor, who claimed to be fighting for the so-called "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" [ISIL] militant group.

She further told investigators she planned to fly to Turkey and then travel to Syria to become a housewife and a nurse at the man's camp, providing medical services and training.

According to the court documents, FBI agents became aware of Conley's growing interest in extremism in November after she started talking about terrorism with employees of a church who found her wandering around and taking notes on the layout of the campus.

She spoke with agents several times after that, telling them of her desire for "jihad," the records state.

Four days before her arrest, she told agents "there was nothing they could do to change her mind and that she was still going."

Sources: News Agencies, Edited by website team