Jihadi pair ‘creating women’s terror army to target UK’
TERROR fanatics Sally Jones and Samantha Lewthwaite are creating an “army” of white Muslim women to attack Britain.
MI5 fears the jihadi pair are recruiting female converts to carry out atrocities.
Spy chiefs say “White Widow” Lewthwaite and Jones represent one of the most dangerous terror threats to the UK.
It is understood that cyber experts at GCHQ have intercepted dozens of encrypted messages and phone calls.
They indicate British female Muslims are being targeted by Islamic State. Lewthwaite and Jones are known to have strong links with the terror group and are believed to have masterminded plots in the UK and across Europe and Africa.
Last night one source said: “Jones and Lewthwaite are at the top of the UK and US’s most-wanted list. They are two very dangerous, manipulative terrorists.
“The Islamic State in Syria and Iraq may be close to collapse but the war will go on and these two women are recruiting other females to their death cult.” They added: “Both women have hallowed status in Isis.
“They have huge influence and wield quite a lot of power within the male-dominated group.
“Intelligence suggests that they are now attempting to recruit in the UK and other European countries and they are targeting white converts.”
The MI5 fears come as Isis called on women to take up arms. In a new edition of its Arabic newspaper, the group told female supporters it was an “obligation” for them to wage jihad. It said: “Today, in the context of the war against the Islamic State, it has become necessary for female Muslims to fulfil their duties on all fronts in supporting the mujahedeen in this battle.”
Isis is desperate to recruit more white converts. It thinks they are less likely to be identified as jihadis and will have more chance of carrying out terrorist outrages.
Jones, 50, from Kent, was married to 7/7 Tube bomber Germaine Lindsay. She is on the Pentagon’s “kill list” because she is believed to have masterminded dozens of plots.
She fled Britain to join Isis in 2013 alongside lover Junaid Hussain, taking her then-nine-year-old son JoJo with her. Hussain was killed by a US drone strike in 2015 aged 21.
Lewthwaite, from Aylesbury, Bucks, is wanted over atrocities carried out by African-based Islamic terror group al-Shabaab.