DHAKA: US law enforcement is investigating a new phenomenon of women from the American heartland joining Islamic State (IS) as president Barack Obama vows to cut off the militants' recruiting at home.

At least three Somali families in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area have female relatives who have gone missing in the past six weeks and may have tried to join Islamic State, said community leader Abdirizak Bihi.

He said that while the reasons for their disappearance were unclear, he had told the families to contact police.

In a separate case, a 19-year-old American Somali woman from St Paul snuck away from her parents on August 25 saying she was going to a bridal shower. Instead, she flew to Turkey and joined ISIS in Syria.

Home to the biggest Somali community in the United States, the Twin Cities area of Minnesota has been plagued by terrorist recruiting since the Somali group al-Shabaab began enlisting in America around 2007.

BDST: 2107 HRS, SEP 14, 2014