US Renews $5 Million Reward for Information on Khadra Essa

WASHINGTON — The United States has renewed a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the identification or location of Khadra Essa, also known as Umm Qaqa al-Somali, whom the U.S. government identifies as the chief sharia instructor of an all-female Islamic State (ISIS) battalion.

The U.S. State Department’s Rewards for Justice programme said Essa is a Somalia-born Dutch citizen who travelled to Syria in 2014 to join ISIS. The programme is offering up to $5 million for information about her.

According to the U.S. government, Essa received formal training in Syria from ISIS-Nusaybah Katibah in the use of weapons and explosives, as well as in suicide operations.

The Rewards for Justice programme said Essa has advocated violence and encouraged other ISIS members to carry out attacks in multiple countries. It also accused her of teaching ISIS extremist ideology used to justify suicide operations and the killing of civilians, as well as recruiting new members for the group.

Essa was a leader of Nusaybah Katibah, also known as ISIS-NK, an all-female combat battalion formed in Raqqah, Syria, in 2016. The group recruited, organised and trained women in combat and military skills, according to the U.S. government.

At its height, ISIS-NK had several hundred trained members, including U.S. and European citizens, the Rewards for Justice programme said. The group has since diminished following ISIS’s loss of its territorial stronghold in Syria but remains active, according to the U.S. government.

The U.S. government also alleges that Essa was involved in enforcing ISIS’s interpretation of sharia law against women. According to Rewards for Justice, she issued orders that resulted in physical punishments, including assaults and killings.

Essa has also been linked by U.S. authorities to the case of two American children who were taken to Syria by their mother in 2015 to join ISIS. After their mother died during a military strike against ISIS forces in 2019, Essa allegedly took custody of the children and moved them to an undisclosed location in Syria, according to Rewards for Justice.

The programme said the children, Yusuf and Zahra Shikder, were last known to be in Syria. It separately offers up to $5 million for information leading to their location, recovery and return.

Rewards for Justice, administered by the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, offers financial rewards for information that helps the U.S. government locate or disrupt individuals and networks involved in terrorism and other threats.

The programme’s current listing identifies Essa as a target in the Near East region and places the reward at up to $5 million.