US teen pleads guilty to providing support to Islamic State

Ali Amin used social media to use the virtual currency Bitcoin to send funds to militants

WASHINGTON: A Virginia 17-year-old pleaded guilty in US federal court to charges of conspiring to provide support and resources to Islamic State militants, the US Justice Department said on Thursday.

Ali Amin, of Manassas, Virginia, used social media to provide instructions on how to use the virtual currency Bitcoin to send funds to militants, and he helped another Virginia resident travel to Syria to join the group, the department said.

Amin faces up to 15 years in prison, the department said.

Read: UK teens suspected of trying to join Islamic State arrested

On April 21, a 20-year-old woman from a Birmingham, Alabama suburb has left the United States to join the Islamic State (IS) militant group in Syria, local broadcaster WIAT reported on Monday.

The report came as US authorities said they have charged six young Somali-American men from Minnesota with planning to join the fighters who have declared an Islamic Caliphate on land they have seized in Syria and neighboring Iraq.

Read: Alabama woman joins Islamic State in Syria: media

Western countries have become increasingly worried about the numbers of citizens signing up with militant groups, fearing they could return to launch attacks at home.