Children taken to Isil in Syria
FIVE smiling, happy children pictured here as they left for a Muslim pilgrimage are now in grave peril amid fears their mother took them to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) in Syria.
The youngsters are among nine children, one who is just three-years-old, believed to have been taken to the war torn country by their mothers.
Sisters Khadija Dawood, 30, Sugra Dawood, 34, and Zohra Dawood, 33, from Bradford, are suspected of trying to join their brother who is fighting with fanatics there.
The children’s distraught fathers fear their lives are now in danger and issued a desperate appeal for their wives to return. In the most alarming case to date of Britons heading for Syria, the family of 12 disappeared a week ago after first heading to Saudi Arabia for a pilgrimage. But instead of returning home, they boarded a flight to Istanbul and have not been heard of since. There were also questions for the police last night after reports that the sisters had been under surveillance prior to disappearing.
Junaid Ahmed Iqbal, 15, Ibrahim Iqbal, 14, Zaynab Iqbal, eight, Mariya Iqbal, five, and three-year-old Ismaeel Iqbal were photographed as they left the UK. They are now missing along with their cousins, five year-old Muhammad Haseeb, Maryam Siddiqui, seven, Haafiyah Binte Zubair, eight, and five-yearold Nurah Binte Zubair.
The hunt came as extremist recruiters were likened to paedophiles after online groomers were blamed for persuading Talha Asmal, 17, to become Britain’s youngest suicide bomber in an Isil attack in Iraq.
THREE British sisters are feared to have gone to Syria with their nine children, one as young as three, to join their brother fighting there.
The women, from Bradford, disappeared after first going to Saudi Arabia on an Islamic pilgrimage but are believed to have then flown to Turkey and have not been heard of in a week. Their distraught husbands fear the children’s lives are now in danger.
Police also faced questions on Monday after reports the sisters were under watch prior to vanishing.
It came as police chiefs and senior politicians warned how easy people are being fooled by Isil propaganda and lured to the war torn country. It is feared “charismatic recruiters” are “brainwashing” people online as community leaders urged parents and the public to help root out the groomers.
In the most alarming case to date, siblings Khadija Dawood, 30, Sugra Dawood, 34, and Zohra Dawood, 33, are believed to have followed their brother to Syria. They took with them their nine children, five year-old Muhammad Haseeb, Maryam Siddiqui, seven, Ismaeel Iqbal, three, Mariya Iqbal, five, Zaynab Iqbal, eight, Ibrahim Iqbal, 14, Junaid Ahmed Iqbal, 15, Haafiyah Binte Zubair, eight, and fiveyear-old Nurah Binte Zubair.
A lawyer acting for their devastated husbands issued a desperate appeal for their return.
Balaal Khan said: “They are concerned that their children’s lives are in danger. The concern is for the well-being and safety of the children. The fathers are distraught, they feel helpless and they don’t now what to do. They want the children out of harm’s way.”
The extended family went to Saudi Arabia on May 28 for a pilgrimage.
They were due to return to the UK on June 11 but it is believed they instead boarded a flight on June 9 from Madina to Istanbul in Turkey, which is a well used destination to get in to Syria.
Their relatives have not heard from them in almost a week and their Facebook sites and other social media have not been updated. It is believed the trio’s brother is already in Syria fighting with extremists and it is feared the sisters have gone to find him. Mr Khan said police were notified five or six days ago but were limited in what they could do. However, a family friend claimed the sisters had been under “extensive police surveillance”, according to Channel 4 News.
The siblings’father was unavailable for comment but local resident Mohammed Khan, 35, said he was disabled and in ill health. “He has his son and three daughters who would look after him and now they’ve gone. It’s terrible,” he said.
“I knew the brother had gone away about a year or so. So now the daughters have gone too he has no one.” A former neighbour added: “They were a big family and you never had any trouble from them. They were just nice and normal.
“I’m just so shocked to hear the news. Three women and nine children – it’s unbelievable.”
West Yorkshire Police was “working extensively with authorities overseas to try and locate them”. Assistant Chief Constable Russ Foster said: “We are extremely concerned for the safety of the family and would urge anyone with information to come forward and speak to us.”
The growing influence of terror groups in attracting youngsters to their cause has caused huge alarm among the security services and Government following a series of developments.
Talha Asmal, 17, was this week named as Britain’s youngest suicide bomber after blowing himself up for Isil in an attack against Iraqi forces, and Thomas Evans, 25, is believed to have died fighting for al-Shabaab in Kenya.
The typical age range for Britons joining jihad has fallen from around 25 to 35 during the Afghanistan War to 14 to 26 now. And, for the first time, significant numbers of Muslim women and young girls in the West are joining the conflict too.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, warned: “Today’s terrorist may of course be a hardened member of an organised terrorist ’cell’, but may very well also be a lone disaffected youth radicalised by extremist material on his home computer.” ÞTwo men and three women have been charged with Syria-related terrorism offences, West Midlands Police said.
The five, from Walsall near Wolverhampton, will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court today to face charges including preparing to travel to Syria to engage in terror and helping others to travel. Alex Nash, 21, and his wife Yousma Jan, 20, and Ayman Shaukat, 27, were arrested last week, while Lorna Moore, 34, and Kerry Thomason, 23, were arrested in February.