Murderers, rapists, extremists, inhuman: these are some of the adjectives used by the international media to describe the Islamic State jihadists, as ‘horror stories’ emerge regarding the atrocities perpetrated on the Yesidi minorities in northern Iraq and the recent execution of the U.S. journalist James Foley.

However, this fact doesn’t seem to stop some women from traveling to Iraq and Syria, where the action of the Islamic State has spread, to offer their “skills” to jihadists… in a form of sexual jihad.

Jihad Al-Nikah, often translated as ‘Sexual jihad’ is a controversial concept that refers to women allegedly offering themselves in sexual comfort roles to fighters for the establishment of Islamic rule.

These women come from all over the world. Authorities confirmed recently that three Malaysian women have journeyed to the Middle East to join up with Isis forces and offer them “relief.”

The concept originated in a fatwa titled Jihad ul Nikaah and attributed to Saudi Wahhabi cleric Sheikh Mohamad al-Arefe around 2013, that called for Sunni women supporters to come forward for sex jihad and boost the mujaheddin fighting the Bashar al Assad regime in Syria.

On September 19, 2013, Lofti bin Jeddou, the Interior Minister of Tunisia stated in the National Constituent Assembly that Sunni Tunisian women traveling to Syria for sex jihad were having sex with 20, 30 and even up to 100 rebels, and that some of the women had returned home pregnant

Although it is believed by some that the “sexual jihad” concept was created by the Assad regime to divert public attention, jihadists who have spoken to Tunisia TV said that it is true.