LOS ANGELES — A Pakistani woman’s role as a shooter in the San Bernardino massacre is raising fears that foreign-born brides who support the Islamic State group could marry Americans to come to the U.S. to carry out extremist missions.

Experts in jihad, immigration lawyers and former U.S. diplomats say there’s no sign other foreign brides have sought Western marriages to launch attacks, and it’s still not clear if 29-year-old Tashfeen Malik did so. But, they warn, that could change, especially if IS militants begin actively encouraging women to join men in attacks in the West.

While the group currently bars women from taking up arms for combat or other attacks, its commanders are pragmatic and adaptable and could drop their ban at any time, security experts say.

“When they see an opportunity to do damage, and the best man for the job is a woman, they will use the woman,” said Sasha Havlicek, a founder of the British-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue, whose work includes monitoring the flow of female extremist recruits.

“We will see women more active in terror plots,” Havlicek predicted. “We already know they are radicalizing in unprecedented numbers.”

The flow of IS supporters can also go the other way. Up to 30 women have left America to try to join the Islamic State group since it rose to prominence, according to a recent estimate from the Department of Homeland Security.

The numbers are higher in Europe, where more than 600 women have left to join extremists.

A religious conservative who lived previously in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, Malik joined her American-born husband of less than two years, Syed Farook, on Dec. 2 in donning tactical gear, grabbing assault weapons and slaughtering 14 people at his office holiday party in Southern California.

While women previously have served as suicide bombers for violent Islamist groups, experts describe Malik’s role as a breach of current IS limits on the role of women, and the group has been muted in its public responses to the killings.

Farook and his family, like many traditional families in South Asia and elsewhere, used regional matchmaking websites to search for a suitable bride, although it’s not clear if that’s how he met Malik.

An Associated Press review of matrimonial websites showed many families in Pakistan seeking grooms with passports to more prosperous countries, including the United States and Canada.

There were no obvious extremist views on the profiles of would-be brides and grooms. Some Pakistan families, however, told The Associated Press they avoided online matchmaking for just that fear.

“After the incident in California, we should be extremely careful,” said Munir Anwar, a poet in the deeply conservative town of Liaqatpur, in Malik’s home region of Pakistan.

People meeting friends or matches online “play with fire,” declared Azim Khalid, a university teacher in the Punjab town of Vehari.