How the ‘Khansaa Brigade’, ISIS’ Female Recruits, Terrorise Mosul

The real fear instilled in women living under ISIS’ reign is not by hardened militants, but by the female recruits.

An ISIS supporter. (Photo: Reuters)

For many women living under the reign of the Islamic State in the city of Mosul, the real fear instilled in them is not by hardened militants, but by ISIS’ female recruits.

For a radical group that follows oppressive doctrines when it comes to women, ISIS has been able to effectively recruit them in its cadres.

Female refugees in Iraq’s Khazer Camp recount being terrorised by the ‘Khansaa Brigade’, the all-female ISIS Hisbah unit who were in charge of enforcing an extreme version of the Shariah law.

I was much more afraid of women. They would beat you for the smallest thing – how you looked or how you wore your headscarf.

Umm Fatma, a refugee at Khazer Camp told NBC News

It’s indeed remarkable how an organisation, that actively suppresses women’s rights, has managed to recruit so many women. Of the 3,000 or so westerners who have joined ISIS, 550 of them are reportedly women.

Another refugee, Umm Azma, described how the women in the brigade preferred to use a torture tool called the “biter” – a metal device that pinches the skin as punishment for not following ISIS’ dress codes.

Azma watched it being used on her neighbour who was cleaning outside her house without her headscarf. She said they took her away for lashings, and she never saw her again.