British jihadi girls ‘now living in IS stronghold’
THREE missing British schoolgirls who fled to Syria to join Islamic State were last night believed to be in a house in the city of Raqqa. Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15- year- old Amira Abase went missing two weeks ago after boarding a flight from Gatwick to Istanbul.
The girls are believed to have crossed from Turkey to Syria through the town of Arai. Yesterday Sky News reporter Stuart Ramsay said: ‘We are told by very good sources in Raqqa that they are there and that they are under the control of Islamic State.’
He also revealed that they were staying with a British girl – thought to be a pupil from their school who went missing in December and is believed to have joined IS. The 15year-old student, the first to disappear from Bethnal Green Academy in east London, has not been identified by the authorities.
Over the weekend it also emerged that letters from Scotland Yard to the girls’ families – explaining that the pupils would be part of the inquiry to their friend’s disappearance – had been given to the schoolgirls rather than their parents.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe admitted that ‘with the benefit of hindsight’ officers should have communicated directly with the families. But he said parents had a responsibility to come forward if their teenagers betrayed any interest in extremist ideology. However Abase Hussein, the father of Amira, said his daughter would still be at home if he had seen the warning. ‘If we knew, this wouldn’t have happened,’ he said, adding: ‘We would have discussed it and taken away their passports.’
And Halima Khanom, sister of Kadiza, said: ‘We wouldn’t have been here today if we’d got that letter and known what was going on.’
At least 22 young women are feared to have travelled to Syria from the UK over the past 12 months. Scotland Yard has said the investigation into all the missing girls continues.
Sir Bernard yesterday warned that girls lured to Syria by IS faced sex abuse at the hands of ‘deeply misogynistic’ militants.
He said British jihadi brides were oblivious to the reality of life under the terror group and will be powerless to escape once they arrive.