A former British glamour model being groomed online as a ‘jihadist bride’ by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS, ISIL) says she is considering visiting the Turkey-Syria border for a third time in the next few months, but denies she wants to join the terrorist group.
Kimberley Miners, a former page three girl who has posed topless for the Sun newspaper, has allegedly been in contact with a British fighter in Syria, Abu Usama Al Britani, who is trying to recruit women to the terrorist group via Facebook.
According to the Times, Miners, 27, from Bradford, has been questioned by anti-terrorism police and MI5 up to four times due to her sharing IS videos on Facebook.
Miners, who uses social media under the alias of Aisha Lauren al-Britaniya, claims despite her “posting a lot of bombs and stuff” on social media, her interest in Islam is merely to find “peace.”
She says she has plans to travel to Turkey this autumn and has gone there twice on “holiday” in October last year. Turkey is the most common route to enter Syria.
However, she says she has no aspiration to marry a jihadist and does not support IS brutalities.
She says she is drawn to Syria because of the plight of children there, and her past trips to the Turkey-Syria border she spent time in migrant camps there.
“I remember seeing a three-year-old and a little baby at the side of the road.
“I felt like I needed to carry on telling everyone this is what’s really going on. I just want to help the children … it’s so sad what they’re going through.”
Miners says she was told IS was there to protect religion, but admitted her involvement had “got her into trouble.”
She added: “I’ve gone from glamour model to something completely different. But that again makes you wonder. You don’t get s**t for wearing nowt but the second you start wearing the veil you get accused of extremism.”
When going out in the city, Miners wears western outfits and leaves her face and hair uncovered, apparently because she was abused when she went out in the traditional veiled Islamic costume.
There are concerns Miners is following in the footsteps of ‘White Widow’ Sally Jones, who fled to Syria with her son JoJo in 2013, where she and the child converted to Islam and joined IS.