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Woman arrested in Spain for recruiting girls for IS

Xinhua, July 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

A woman was arrested on Tuesday in Spain accused of recruiting girls and adolescents for the Mideast radical group Islamic State (IS), the Spanish Interior Ministry reported on Tuesday.

The woman, of Spanish nationality and a convert to Islam, was arrested in Arrecife, on the island of Lanzarote, the Canary Islands.

She received instructions from an important IS facilitator in Syria who gave the information needed to send the girls to the areas controlled by IS. Although she recruited a group of women, she was unable to manage their leaving.

The police searched the woman's house and the detainee was transferred to Madrid.

Spain's Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said there is an increasing number of women and girls being recruited for the IS.

He pointed out that in Spain the police "found the first cell in charge of recruiting, indoctrinating and radicalizing" exclusively organized by women and to recruit women.

Spanish police also arrested on Tuesday an alleged jihadist at Barcelona airport El Prat. He was travelling from Algeria to Hamburg and had an international warrant for joining the IS and taking part in the Syrian conflict.

Meanwhile, two Spanish men were arrested on Monday in Madrid after returning from fighting in Syria. The two detainees had appeared in a video in January where they told how they were fighting with the IS in a "revolutionary war" started by the Kurdish militias.

They are accused of taking part in armed conflict without Spain's authorization, putting national interests in jeopardy and joining groups considered terrorist organizations by international organizations. Endit