Three missing British schoolgirls staying in Al Raqqa, Syria

Three missing schoolgirls who left Britain to join Islamic State have crossed into Syria and are believed to be staying at a house in al Raqqa. Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15, boarded a flight from Gatwick Airport bound for Istanbul last month. Authorities feared the teenagers, who attended Bethnal Green Academy in east London, were seeking to join the Islamist militants.

They’re now apparently in a house that is owned or controlled - or at least hosted by - a British girl who had been in contact with them through the internet, and had brought them through Turkey and into Syria.

SKY News’ Stuart Ramsay

Last week CCTV footage emerged which appeared to show the three teenagers at a bus station in Istanbul. The girls were seen wrapped in heavy winter jackets, two with hoods pulled up, and carrying packed sports bags and holdalls. The footage was recorded in the early hours of 18 February, less than 24 hours after the trio left their London homes, telling their families they would be out for the day. The Metropolitan Police earlier disclosed that the three girls were questioned by officers in December as part of a “routine inquiry”. None of the three was subsequently monitored by counter-terrorism police, according to The Times.

There’s been a lot of discussion about where they are, (and) how they got there. But we are told they are now inside Syria, they are inside al Raqqa, and they are under the control of Islamic State.

Stuart Ramsay

Europe British schoolgirls