Khadra Essa, a Somali-born Dutch citizen operating in Syria under the name Umm Qaqa al-Somali, is a wanted woman.

On Sept. 14, 2026, the U.S. State Department again publicized its offer of up to US$5 million for information about her whereabouts, having first offered a reward in April 2025.

The notice describes Essa as the chief sharia instructor of Khatiba Nusaybah, or ISIS-NK, an all-female Islamic State combat battalion formed in Raqqa, Syria, in 2016 to recruit, organize and train female fighters.

The United States alleges she received formal training in weapons, explosives and suicide operations. The State Department notice claims Essa “taught ISIS extremist ideology that justified suicide operations and killing of civilians,” recruited members, made orders that resulted in assaults and murder, and “led a group that violently enforced sharia law against women.” There is a separate State Department notice for information leading to the location and return of two American children allegedly taken by Essa after the death of their mother – an Islamic State group recruit – in 2019.

As a terrorism researcher who studies how militant groups organize and adapt, I’ve examined U.S. and European court records, sanctions and reward notices, as well as jihadi groups’ own Arabic-language publications, to trace how women’s roles inside armed movements have evolved.

For as long as modern terrorism has existed, women have been known to fight and carry out attacks. But I’ve observed a newer development whereby women’s organizational authority in jihadi groups has been increasingly formalized. Indeed, women are occupying defined roles in which they train, recruit, discipline or direct other members, or manage functions on which the organization depends.

Learning from secular groups

Two decades ago, the political scientist Brigitte Nacos surveyed how women in armed groups were understood. Women had long been leaders and chief ideologues in secular movements – such as in the Weather Underground in the United States, Italy’s Red Brigades, Germany’s Red Army Faction and the Basque separatist group ETA.

In jihadi movements, by contrast, women were rarely presented as people with formal authority over other members or organizational functions. Rather, such groups,........

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