Calif. case suggests growing interest of women in terrorism

WASHINGTON (AP) — Islamic State propaganda is resonating with a growing and loyal following of young women and teenagers, complicating U.S. counterterrorism efforts to identify and monitor supporters such as Tashfeen Malik, the 29-year-old mother suspected in the California shootings along with her husband.

[...] the increasing number of women drawn to IS is worrisome to American law enforcement and making it almost impossible to flag the prototypical recruit for investigation.

Most recruits had tried to join IS on its home turf, including three teenage girls from Colorado who were intercepted in Germany last year and a 19-year-old Mississippi woman who the FBI says set off with her love interest before being stopped at a regional airport.

Even as IS spotlights decapitations of captives, recruitment videos that show smiling children paint a family-friendly portrait and suggest a role for women who join the self-described caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

A U.S. official says she used a Facebook alias to praise the Islamic State in a post around the time she and her husband, Syed Farook, opened fire in combat-style gear on a holiday party of his co-workers.

Even the most sophisticated electronic surveillance tools can fail to pick up a plot hatched by a couple who spend hours communicating face to face in the privacy of their home.