In the wake of journalist James Foley's brutal beheading, a 22-year-old woman is vowing to copycat his execution and become the first female jihadist from the United Kingdom to kill a Western captive in Syria.
Khadijah Dare, originally from London, England, is married to a Swedish man and Islamic State fighter named Abu Bakr. The couple moved to Syria in 2012 and are currently living alongside the extremist militant group with their son, according to London's Evening Standard.
Dare apparently writes under the Twitter name Muhajirah fi Sham (which means “immigrant in Syria”) to discuss her jihadist ambitions in Syria, though her account has recently been taken down. In a tweet, which has since been removed, Dare revealed her intentions, per The Independent:
“Any links 4 da execution of da journalist plz. Allahu Akbar. UK must b shaking up ha ha. I wna b da 1st UK woman 2 kill a UK or US terorrist!(sic)”.
The graphic video of Foley's murder, released by the militant group this week, has refocused attention on foreign fighters streaming to join the Islamic State. The man in the propaganda clip speaks in a British accent and U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said it is likely he is a British citizen.
Before moving to Syria, Dare was reportedly a regular at the Lewisham Islamic Center in southeast London, having converted to Islam as a teenager, the same mosque linked to Woolwich killers Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale who were convicted of the 2013 murder of Drummer Lee Rigby, the Evening Standard reports.
Trying to distance itself from Dare, the center said in statement, as reported by The Guardian:
"It is rather unfortunate that time and time again, the media do not seem to understand that whether or not any individual who has ever prayed in the mosque has gone on to be involved in acts that are considered to be illegal, that this should in no way reflect on the mosque or on the message the mosque imparts."
In response to being asked to condemn Dare's tweet, the mosque described the requests as being "loaded with an islamophobic assumption that Muslims by default condone such brutality," according to the newspaper.
Last July, Dare was featured in a documentary on the U.K.'s Channel 4 about British women joining Islamist militants in Syria. In the film, she referred to herself as "Maryam" and told cameras that she doesn't consider herself a fighter, but would instead like to become a martyr.