State: Jihadi brides have links with ISIS

From left: Halima Aden Ali, Maryam Said, Khadija Abubakar and Ummul Khayar at the Mombasa Court yesterday, where they pleaded not guilty to charges of joining Al Shabaab. [Photo: Kelvin Karani/standard]

Investigators now claim three Kenyan women and a Zanzibari accused of joining Somalia's Al Shabaab also have links with militant groups in Sudan and Syria.

"The accused have links to Syria and Sudan. If any is to reach Syria, it will be hard to get them even through our police or diplomatic relations because it is a state that operates under life support," said state lawyer Eugene Wangila referring to parts of Syria controlled by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).