WUNRN
UK - TWIN SISTERS AGE 16 LEAVE
MANCHESTER, ALLEGEDLY TO JOIN ISIS IN SYRIA
Twin sisters age
16 from
Twin sisters aged 16 may have travelled to
The British citizens crept away from their home in the
middle of the night and boarded a flight to
The girls’ distraught parents raised the alarm after finding their beds empty when they went to wake them.
Police discovered their passports and belongings missing
and established that they had flown to
Officers are investigating how the girls paid for the
trip – amid fears that it was bankrolled by jihadi fighters in the
It is thought the sisters, who have nine siblings,
travelled to
Mohammed Shafiq, the head of Muslim group the Ramadhan
Foundation, said their ‘moderate’ parents were shocked.
He added: ‘I’ve spoken to the mosque where
the family worship and others in the community where they live and people are
saying they are a decent family. We know they have gone to follow their
brother, but they are putting themselves in danger and I’m sure that the moment
they arrive in such a savage country they will regret it.’
Sources said it was unlikely women would be recruited to
fight and becoming jihad brides was the most likely scenario.
They admitted there was a risk they were being groomed as
suicide bombers.
‘We’ve seized their computers and not found any videos or
statements of intent, but are not ruling anything out,’ the source said. The
sisters, who fled ten days ago, are of Somali origin and go to a sixth form
college in
Last week Sir Peter Fahy, chief constable for Greater
Manchester police, who sits on the Association of Chief Police Officers’
counter-terrorism committee, warned young women as well as men were being
‘brainwashed’ by ‘perverted messages’.
He said: ‘We’ve got some information about girls trying
to get to
Greater
‘The family are very worried,’ a spokesman said. ‘We
don’t know exactly where they are but their parents are obviously very keen to
have them returned home.’
As many as 1,500 Britons may have travelled to
On Friday, reclusive