Manama: Forty-six Saudi women have joined the terror group Daesh since 2011, Saudi Arabia’s interior ministry spokesman Mansoor Al Turki has said.
The last time a woman joined the group in the large swathes of land it control in Syria and Iraq was in July, and she was accompanied by three of her children, London-based Al Hayat daily reported on Thursday.
The woman had reportedly pledged to spend the fasting month of Ramadan in the lands controlled by Daesh and later posted on her Twitter account that she would commit a suicide attack “soon”.
The 40-year-old woman from Sajer, 270 kilometres to the north west of the Saudi capital Riyadh, had travelled with her family to Makkah to perform Umrah just days before the start of Ramadan.
However, she later disappeared and eventually sent a message to her mother informing her she was with Daesh in Syria, the daily said.
Several stories have emerged about Saudi women joining their husbands or relatives, who are with Daesh.
While most stories about their movement to Daesh-controlled lands remain a mystery, one woman, Nada Al Qahtani, in early 2013 sparked a wide controversy by calling for an exodus to Syria and Iraq to join Daesh.
Al Qahtani joined her husband Abu Mohammad Al Azadi. Her father was detained in jail over a security-related issue while her brother Abdul Hadi is wanted by the security authorities.
According to the interior ministry spokesperson, Saudi Arabia has arrested 1,677 terror suspects since the attack on a community centre during the commemoration of Ashura in November.
Al Turki said that 1,375 of the suspects were Saudi nationals and that 302 were foreigners from 31 nationalities.
Terror attacks in Saudi Arabia have killed 58 people, including 20 policemen.
