Khadra Essa

About

The U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice program is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information on Khadra Essa, chief sharia instructor of an all-female ISIS battalion known as Nusaybah Katibah (ISIS-NK).

Essa, also known as Umm Qaqa al-Somali, is a Somalia-born Dutch citizen who traveled to Syria in 2014 to join ISIS. In Syria, she was formally trained by ISIS-NK in the use of weapons, explosives, and suicide operations. Essa has regularly advocated the use of violence and encouraged other ISIS members to conduct attacks in multiple countries. Additionally, she has taught ISIS extremist ideology that justified suicide operations and killing of civilians and has recruited new members for ISIS.

ISIS-NK is an all-female combat battalion, formed in Raqqah, Syria, in 2016 to recruit, organize, and train female fighters in various combat and military skills. At its height, ISIS-NK had several hundred trained members, including U.S. and European citizens who pose a particular threat to the West because of their ability to more easily enter Western countries and integrate with their populations. While the group has diminished in size following the territorial defeat of ISIS, it continues to be active and pose a danger.

In her ISIS-NK role, Essa led a group that violently enforced sharia law against women. Essa issued orders which resulted in physical punishments, such as assaults and even murder.

Essa is also known to have had in her custody several kidnapped or abducted children. In 2019 she held U.S. siblings Yusuf and Zahra Shikder and took them to an undisclosed location in Syria after their mother died during a military strike against ISIS forces. The children’s mother had kidnapped and transported them to Syria in 2015 to join ISIS without their father’s consent.