Members of a radical Islamic sect in Azerbaijan’s third-largest city of Sumqayit are seeking to recruit women for marriage with rebels in Syria, police said, according to Vesti.Az news website.

Potential victims are young and uneducated women from the so-called Khawarij sect.

“Women like these are easy to deceive," an unnamed police officer said. “We have talked to several of them. They are really convinced that they should follow the fatwa.”

Police have the names of 210 members of the sect from the Agsu, Xacmaz, Shamaxi and Qusar districts of Azerbaijan. Until recently, the Khawarijis had their “headquarters” in Baku.

Following “preventive measures” by the authorities, 80 percent of them went back to their home towns.

Elcin Akbarov, leader of the group, was arrested by police in December following an armed dispute between Khawarijis and Salafis, the police officer said.

Bakudaily.Az