'ISIS bride' says ISIS not idyllic, big mistake

(ANSA) - MILAN, SEP 30 - An Italian 'ISIS bride' said a day after her return to Italy Wednesday that she had made a big mistake and had not found the Islamic State in Syria to be the idyllic place she had expected.
    "It was a big mistake, the Islamic State in Syria was not the idyllic place we had expected when we left in 2015, responding to the call of al-Baghdadi, in fact we wanted to come back," said Alice Brignoli, wife of the dead ISIS militant Mohamed Koraichi, after she was arrested in Syria and brought back home with her four children, who are to be placed in care.
    Saying that she still believed in Islam, Brignoli told magistrates said she was no longer radicalised and said her children had not been trained.
    The ROS special branch of Italy's Carabinieri police said Tuesday that it had arrested Brignoli in Syria.
    Brignoli was the wife of Koraichi, an Italian with Moroccan roots who became an ISIS militant.
    The couple left Italy to join ISIS in 2015, taking their three children with them, according to investigators.
    Koraichi, who is thought to have died, took part in ISIS military operations while the ROS said that Brugnoli had an "active role in teaching the children the cause of the jihad".
    She is accused of criminal association for terrorism.
    The ROS unit tracked down Brignoli and her four children - she gave birth to her fourth child in Syria - and have brought them back to Italy.
    Sources said that Brignoli was "extremely happy" to return to Italy, even though she knew she would go to jail and her children would be put into care.
    "It's a lovely Italian story," Prosecutor Alberto Nobili, the head of Milan's anti-terrorism pool, told ANSA.
    "It highlights the great capacity of the Italian police forces and the strength of international cooperation".
    He added that the children and their mother "will have to be de-radicalised". (ANSA).