Washington: US President Donald Trump says not to allow American woman who left the United States to join the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria to come back to the country.
"I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the country," Trump tweeted on Wednesday.
Mr Pompeo had earlier stated that the 24-year-old was not a US citizen and would not be admitted.However, her family and her lawyer maintain that she has US citizenship, a report in BBC said. Ms Muthana, who grew up in Alabama, travelled to Syria to join IS when she was 20. She had told her family she was going to a university event in Turkey.
President Trump recently told the UK and other European countries to take back and put on trial Islamic State (IS) fighters captured in the final battle against the group.
He warned that the alternative was that US-led Kurdish forces would have to release them.Ms Muthana's family lawyer, Hassan Shibly, said it was "preposterous" that Mr Trump would call for European states to take back their citizens and "now is trying to play games when it comes to American citizens".
Hoda Muthana had a valid US passport and is a citizen. She was born in Hackensack, NJ in October 1994, months after her father stopped being a diplomat.(UNI)