Teen 'jihadi brides' reportedly complete journey from Britain to Islamic State in Syria

“We understand that after arriving in Istanbul the girls met an Islamic State member who is charged with helping foreigners who want to join the group."

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Muslim woman (illustrative). (photo credit: REUTERS)
Muslim woman (illustrative).
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Three British teens who fled their homes to join the Islamic State group are feared to have already crossed into Syria via the Turkish border, the Telegraph reported on Sunday.
Dubbed "jihadi brides", the three girls, students at a well-to-do school in east London, have been the focus of an international search involving British Intelligence whose sources have said that Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15, arrived at the border on Friday in a vehicle driven by a Syrian male and, using Syrian identification cards, crossed into Tal Abyad, a town under the control of the Islamic State group.
Turkish Intelligence confirmed these reports, adding that the girls were initially in Istanbul.
“We understand that after arriving in Istanbul the girls met an Isil [Islamic State] member who is charged with helping foreigners who want to join the group," a Turkish security official said.
"There is someone co-coordinating with them. A smuggler. They can’t move by themselves.”
There have been numerous cases of foreign fighters being recruiting by the Islamic State and multiple cases of young women and girls who have joined the group with the goal of becoming betrothed to a fighter.
Counter-Terrorism experts estimate that as many as 50 young Muslim women have traveled from Britain to Syria with this goal in mind.
In this particular case, both Turkish Airlines and Britain's border authorities failed to intercept the unaccompanied girls who were following a route known to be a popular with Syria bound foreigners.
One member of Britain's Labor party, Yasmin Qureshi, described the mentality of such impressionable young women.
“Some young people are under the impression that by joining Isil they are helping their brothers and sisters who are fighting Western intervention in Muslim countries. It needs to be explained that not only are Isil not following the Koran, but that the majority of their victims are innocent Muslims.”