On April 28, a high-ranking female ISIS officer with more than 8,000 followers on Twitter and primarily tasked with recruiting women to join the terror group was identified as a journalism student in her early 20s living in Seattle.The now suspended Twitter handle "@_UmmWaqqas" reportedly belongs to Rawdah Abdisalaam, although it was not confirmed that she is the sole account user.
The avatar shows a woman covered from head to toe in traditional Islamic garb sitting next to a tree.
Since ISIS announced its caliphate last summer, Westerners becoming radicalized online and then traveling to the Middle East to join jihadist groups has become a growing problem.
"What it really demonstrates is the tremendous power of social media," Jonathan Adelman, a professor at the University of Denver's Josef Korbel School of International Studies.
Rawdah's tweets range from inspirational Islamic quotes to coordination with potential new members to pictures of pizza and her favorite football team, the Denver Broncos.