Jill Rosenberg
Jill RosenbergFacebook photo

Canada said Sunday it was "aware of reports" that one of its nationals may have been kidnapped in Syria, amid suggestions it could have been a woman fighting alongside Kurdish forces in Kobane.

Earlier on Sunday, the monitoring group SITE said Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists claimed a woman described as a "female Zionist soldier" had been captured in the embattled Syrian border town.

Some jihadists said the woman might be Gill Rosenberg, a Canadian-Israeli dual national who had served in the Israel Defense Forces and had volunteered to fight with the Kurds, the monitoring group said.

"The Government of Canada is aware of reports that a Canadian citizen was kidnapped in Syria," a foreign ministry statement said, according to AFP.

"Canada is pursuing all appropriate channels to seek further information and officials are in close contact with local authorities," added the statement.

The ministry added that it would not "comment or release any information which may compromise ongoing efforts and risks endangering the safety of Canadian citizens abroad."

A spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry told the website of the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper that the ministry was “monitoring the various reports on the issue and trying to get more information."

SITE said jihadists were discussing on the Internet whether the woman should be executed or traded for Muslim prisoners.

It was Voice of Israel public radio that first reported, earlier in November, that Rosenberg, 31, had joined the Kurdish fighters.

She reportedly made aliyah in 2006 and served in the IDF's Home Front rescue unit. She was arrested in 2009 and extradited to the U.S., after being charged with taking part in an international scam which tricked American pensioners out of funds totaling $25 million.

Rosenberg was convicted and sentenced to four years in jail, but was released and expelled from the U.S.