NEW YORK — Two women accused in New York City’s latest homegrown terrorism case might be part of what some experts say is an evolving threat — a greater willingness by women to shed blood in the name of militant Islamic jihad.
The pair allegedly wanted to “make history” on their own by building a bomb and attacking a domestic target. A day after the New York pair were arrested, a Philadelphia woman was accused of expressing willingness to die as a martyr for the Islamic State group.
While past cases often involved women joining the Islamic State group cause as nurses or wives, “the idea that they want to fight is more a noticeable new trend,” said Karen Greenberg, director of Fordham Law School’s Center on National Security.
Mia Bloom, professor at the University of Massachusetts and author of “Bombshell: Women and Terrorism,” disagreed that more women are now participating in global terrorism, citing large percentages of women among insurgents in Chechnya and Turkey.
Noelle Velentzas and Asia Siddiqui were arrested at their homes Thursday. Officers searching the homes recovered items including three gas tanks, handwritten notes on the recipes for bombs and jihadist literature, court papers say.
