海角大神

A teenage girl whose image was used as a recruitment tool for the Islamic State was reportedly killed while trying to escape the terrorist group鈥檚 grip in Syria, according to Austrian newspapers.

Samra Kesinovic and a friend fled Vienna in April 2014, reportedly leaving a note for their families that read, "Don鈥檛 look for us. We will serve Allah and we will die for him.鈥�

Ms. Kesinovic鈥檚 journey to IS territory is one example in a series of reports underscoring the lure of the Islamic State for women. In slowly growing global numbers, women and girls are choosing to abandon western 鈥渓uxuries and freedoms鈥� in exchange for becoming wives, mothers, and Internet recruiters for the terrorist group, reports 海角大神.

It appears that the number of men leaving Europe and the US for Syria is 鈥渃ontinuing at a steady plateau,鈥� yet 鈥渢he number of Western women headed to Syria has grown exponentially within the past year,鈥� according to The Monitor, which notes that of the 4,500 foreign fighters believed to have joined IS by early 2015, about 550 of them were women.

Despite the flow of foreign women traveling to Syria to join the Islamic State, the initial lure for many already there has worn off. The New York Times outlined the trajectory of three young Syrian women who joined IS, known locally as The Organization, when they first gained full control of Raqqa in 2014, as well as the women鈥檚 eventual escape to Turkey.

Syrians became 鈥渟econd class citizens鈥� after IS took control, The Times reports. But the three women interviewed were 鈥渁mong the lucky: The choice to join was available to them. And each chose to barter her life, through work and marriage, to the Organization.鈥�

It is unclear what prompted Kesinovic to try and return home to Austria, but it was reported last October that she contacted her family and said she wanted to leave IS. The Austrian government told Fox News it could not confirm the murder and that it doesn鈥檛 comment on individual cases.聽