A 30-year-old Philadelphia woman was charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State militant group, U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger announced Friday.
Keonna Thomas, also known as Fatayat Al Khilafah, allegedly attempted to travel overseas to fight and possibly martyr herself, according to the criminal complaint charging her with attempting to provide support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
Thomas allegedly engaged in electronic communications with an Islamic State fighter in Syria, who asked whether she wished to be part of a martyrdom operation, the criminal complaint said. Thomas allegedly responded by writing "that would be amazing...a girl can only wish."
Thomas also allegedly applied for a U.S. passport and conducted online research into various indirect travel routes to Turkey, a common transit point for individuals wishing to join ISIL, the complaint said. She allegedly purchased an electronic visa to Turkey and airline tickets to Spain. Turkey is a common transit point for people traveling from Europe to enter Syria and join Islamic State.
Thomas allegedly engaged in electronic communications with known terrorist fighters as far back as December 2013 and posted tweets supporting martyrdom as far back as August 2013, according to the complaint.
Thomas does not yet have an attorney, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia said.
If convicted, Thomas faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison.
The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Philadelphia Police Department conducted the investigation.
Reuters contributed to this report.
