Islamic State recruits more than just fighters

Washington: The Islamic State organization is trying to recruit more than fighters to its cause.

With its propaganda and social-media presence, the group seeks brides as well as professionals such as doctors, accountants and engineers as it pushes to build a new society in a territorial base that has spread across broad swaths of Iraq and Syria.

In one case, three teenage girls from Colorado swapped Twitter messages about marriage and religion with Islamic State recruiters, then set out for Syria with thousands of dollars in stolen cash. Authorities intercepted them in Germany and returned them to their families without criminal charges.

FBI Director James Comey calls the group's recruiting tactics a social-media "siren song." People helping the group can be prosecuted even if they don't take up arms themselves.