Syria-bound British schoolgirls feared to have crossed IS-controlled territory

Three teenage British “jihadi brides” who are believed to have ran away from home to join fighters from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) are feared to have crossed the Turkish border in Syria.

The students, from Bethnal Green Academy in east London, were at the centre of an international hunt to find them before they manage to enter the territory controlled by IS fighters.

Kadiza Sultana, 16, Shamima Begum, 15, and a 15-year-old girl – named on Saturday night as Amira Abase – have been gone since Tuesday morning, and were spotted on security camera as Gatwick airport catching a flight to Istanbul without telling their parents.

But despite a desperate plea for the girls to return home, the schoolgirls are already believed to have crossed the border. British newspaper The Telegraph reported that the girls were spotted travelling with a Syrian male and were using Syrian identity cards.

The girls are then believed to have met an ISIL member who is charged with helping foreigners join the group.

The three – who are described as “grade A” pupils – left their homes in Tower Hamlets at 8am last Tuesday, travelling to Gatwick airport together, where they boarded a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul, landing at 6.40pm local time.

To the apparent dismay of Scotland Yard, neither Turkish Airlines, nor the UK Border Force reported that the girls were intending to travel unaccompanied to the region, despite it being a well-worn route to Syria.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said the girls’ disappearance was deeply concerning, and pledged that the country will do everything to bring them. The prime minister also called on the British schools, university, and communities to play their party in the country’s fight against the “Islamic extremist terror.”

Commander Richard Walton, head of the Met’s counter-terror command, had earlier there was a good chance the three girls were still in Turkey after snow storms brought travel disruption to Istanbul.

Walton also expressed concern for the girls’ safety, warning that if they step foot in Syria, they might be prohibited from returning to England by Islamic State militants.

“The way that women and young girls are treated by the terrorist group calling itself ‘Islamic State’ is appalling. These girls are not safe in Syria. So, if they’re still in Istanbul and there’s a chance, a possibility, that we can bring them back, then we can safeguard these children.”

“We don’t know what’s caused this. We don’t know whether it’s contact through social media or whether it’s contact through face-to-face locally. We don’t know at this stage,” he said.

It emerged on Friday that Shamima, Kadiza and Amira were close to a 15-year-old girl from their school who travelled to Syria last December.

The Turkish intelligence force is understood to be hunting for the girls in Istanbul, along with local police assisted by the British police and security services, but their task has been made harder by the presence of a network of Isil “representatives”, able to hide the three until an opportunity presents itself to travel to the border.

It remains unclear how the girls became radicalised enough to take the step of travelling to Turkey. However, on February 15 Shamima used the social media site Twitter to get in touch with 20-year-old Aqsa Mahmood, a privately educated woman from Glasgow who joined Isil and married one of its fighters. Mahmood writes a blog and has previously used Twitter to urge British Muslim girls to join her in Syria.

It is thought more than 50 British women have made the journey to Syria via Turkey, with the aim of joining ISIL. Reports suggest many Westerners who join the group later become so-called ‘jihadi brides.’

Security forces estimate around 600 British Muslims have travelled to Syria to participate in the conflict. Some of those are believed to be members of the Islamic State militant group.

Some 50 percent have since returned, with scores being arrested under anti-terrorism laws.