In a first: woman Isis member returned to Germany with her children

A 30-year-old woman who allegedly was a member of the ISIS group has returned to Germany with her three children, police said on Sunday.

The woman is the first adult female Isis member to have been returned through official channels to Germany from Syria.

German news agency dpa reported Sunday the woman and children, whose identities were not revealed, arrived Saturday night in Frankfurt from Erbil in Iraq.

It is believed they were in a detention camp in northern Syria.

Authorities said the woman would be investigated among other things for her membership in the ISIS group, but that there was no arrest warrant for her.

Earlier this month, Turkey stepped up the return of suspected foreign ISIS members back to their countries of origin.

Germany has said it will check the background of all suspected ISIS group members deported back to Germany to assess the risks they pose.

Her passport has been confiscated and she has been banned from leaving the country, while her children are being entrusted to a close relative, Spiegel added.

According to the magazine, she travelled in 2016 from Giessen in central Germany to Syria with two of her children and her husband, a Somalia-born US citizen, where she joined Isis.

She had already been linked to Salafist, or Islamic fundamentalist, circles in Germany and allegedly posted an online call for aid donations for Syria that in reality went to a fundamentalist group.

Following her husband’s reported killing and her own capture by Kurdish security forces, Laura H claims to have turned away from Isis ideology.

A US aid organisation helped bring her to Erbil from the Al-Hol prison camp in northeastern Syria, Spiegel reported.

A fourth child with American nationality transferred at the same time was slated to be returned to the US, a diplomatic source said.

Mass-market daily Bild reported that the child was the daughter of Laura H’s husband.

Kurdish authorities have repeatedly urged Western countries to repatriate their nationals linked to Isis, but they have been largely reluctant to do so.

A Turkish invasion of northern Syria last month sparked concern of a mass breakout from Kurdish-held jails and camps.

Germany had already brought home a handful of orphans, but no adults until Saturday.

Austria, Belgium, Britain and France have also repatriated some orphaned children, while the United States has repatriated several women and their children.

An Albanian boy taken by his mother to join Isis in Syria returned to his home in Italy earlier this month.

Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kosovo have all repatriated dozens of women and children.