Singapore woman held as ally of ISIS

SINGAPORE — Singapore police detained a preschool assistant who shared pro-Islamic State materials online and intended to travel to Syria, the Home Affairs Ministry said Monday, adding that it was the police force’s first arrest of a female citizen accused of being a sympathizer of the extremist group.

The ministry issued a statement saying Syaikhah Izzah Zahrah Al Ansari, 22, was arrested earlier this month under the country’s Internal Security Act, which allows for indefinite detention without trial. Singaporean authorities since 2015 have detained 14 Singaporean males suspected of being Islamic State sympathizers.

Singapore’s immediate neighbors, Indonesia and Malaysia, have large Muslim populations, and hundreds of Islamic State sympathizers are estimated to have traveled to Syria from the two countries. Singapore, an island nation of 5.6 million people, is a multicultural society dominated by ethnic Chinese. Ethnic Malays, who are predominantly Muslim, make up 15 percent of its citizens.

While the country hasn’t experienced any attacks linked to Islamist militants, “a handful” of Singaporeans are believed to be fighting alongside militants in Syria, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean has said.

The ministry statement said Izzah had been “radicalized in 2013 by online propaganda related to the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.”