Terror threat

Number of women and children who joined Isis 'significantly underestimated'

Experts have warned of the growing threat of women and minors linked to Islamic State, suggesting that the number returning to Britain from Syria and Iraq has been significantly underestimated.

According to a new report from King’s College London, a combination of an absence of government data and a changing view within Isis of when women should take up arms means that the danger they pose is likely to be much greater than official figures suggest.

The report, from the university’s International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, found that women had recently been actively involved in plots across the world. It said that 4,761 (13%) of 41,490 foreign citizens who became affiliated with Isis in Iraq and Syria between April 2013 and June 2018 were women. A further 4,640 (12%) were minors.