Asa Mahmood grew up in an affluent part of Glasgow, Scotland, and attended a prestigious private school. She liked listening to the band Coldplay and reading "Harry Potter" books. Then at 19, she disappeared.
She later told her parents that she had crossed into Syria to join Islamic State and was marrying one of its fighters.
In the year since then, she has turned up frequently on social networking sites touting the militant group's attacks and encouraging more Western women to travel to Syria to help build a new nation based on its extreme interpretation of Islam. As recently as Feb. 15, she is believed to have been in touch with 15-year-old Shamima Begum, one of three British teens who flew to Turkey two days later and who police said Tuesday have crossed the border into Syria.
Shiite volunteers receive martial arts training at a military base in Najaf, southern Iraq. Shiite volunteers have been assisting the Iraqi army as it battles fighters from the group calling itself the Islamic State.
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