Two US women arrested over their ties to ISIL
Two women in New York City have been arrested over their ties to the ISIL terrorist group and allegedly planning to carry out a "terrorist attack" in the United States, federal prosecutors say.
Noelle Velentzas, 28, and Asia Siddiqui, 31, plotted to hit government, police or military targets, according to the complaint filed Thursday at a US federal court in Brooklyn.
The complaint said Velentzas and Siddiqui had praised the al-Qaeda terrorist group and were "citizens” of ISIL.
"We are committed to doing everything in our ability to detect, disrupt and deter attacks by homegrown violent extremists," Brooklyn US Attorney Loretta Lynch said in a statement.
The women, former roommates in the New York City borough of Queens, had researched how to build a bomb, the complaint said. When they were arrested, agents found bomb-building materials including propane gas tanks and pipes.
The women had also expressed support for the brutal beheadings carried out by ISIL terrorists in Iraq and Syria, the complaint said.
They are both charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction in the United States and face the possibility of life in prison if convicted.
Last month, US Air Force veteran Tairod Pugh was charged with attempting to join and aid ISIL terrorists in Syria.
Also in March, a US Army National Guard soldier and his cousin were arrested on charges of conspiring to support ISIL and attack a military installation in Illinois.
The ISIL terrorists, many of whom were initially trained by the US Central Intelligence Agency in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, now control parts of Iraq and neighboring Syria.
They have been carrying out horrific acts of violence such as public decapitations and crucifixions against all communities, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, and Christians.
AHT/GJH
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