Within 24 hours of meeting a fighter from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) last year, Malaysian Umm Baraa married him – willingly.

The 27-year-old doctor recounted her impulsive move in a recent post on her Tumblr blog, in words that seem to come straight out of a cheesy romance novel.

“He looked at me, our eyes catch each others’. I had palpitation that is faster than the speed of light,” she wrote.

… And the number doing so is “unprecedented”, said Ms Nur Irfani Saripi, associate research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS).

… “Those from a religious background know very well that ISIS does not conduct itself according to the tenets of Islam,” said Dr Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at RSIS.