Counter-terrorism chief: Manchester twins in Syria threat to themselves
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Version 0 of 1. Teenage sisters who fled their Manchester home for Syria are "posing a threat to themselves and potentially the community", a counter-terrorism chief said on Wednesday. Detectives are investigating whether jihadist rebels arranged and paid for Salma and Zahra Halane, 16, to join the conflict in Syria after radicalising them online. The twins, who are said to be high-achieving sixth form students, disappeared from their family home on 26 June to board a flight from Manchester airport to Istanbul before travelling across the Turkish border into Syria. As concern over their safety continued to grow, the North West Counter Terrorism Unit announced it was investigating why the girls fled Britain and where they were within the fractured middle eastern state. DCS Tony Mole, head of the unit, said: "This investigation now has two main strands: to safeguard the girls wherever possible and to assess any further lines of inquiry as the investigation progresses. They are clearly posing a threat to themselves and potentially the community, and their family and friends are concerned for their well-being." The teenagers, from Chorlton, Greater Manchester, are among thousands of westerners thought to have answered the call of jihad and joined the fight against the Syrian government. They reportedly travelled to Syria to join their brother, a suspected fighter with the terror group Islamic State (Isis). At al-Furqan mosque in Moss Side, Manchester, where the Halanes' father is said to have worshipped, a spokesman said the community was "shocked and appalled" that the girls were missing. Addressing fears that the girls may have been radicalised in their hometown, Manchester's Somali Islamic Cultural Trust said it opposed "any criminal or extreme ideologies that contradict the peaceful teachings of Islam" and added: "It is important to clarify that the centre opposes participation in any violent conflict, regardless of its cause or reason, and have always made this clear. Furthermore, we have worked closely for years with other centres and mosques to promote denouncing of any extremist views." Community leaders said the news had prompted soul-searching in Manchester's Muslim community, especially over how two bright young girls could be radicalised under their own noses. Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, said: "We are all very concerned. We know that these terrorist organisations are barbaric and evil. We know it's forbidden to fight for these organisations. The question is: why would two young girls with a promising academic future want to go out to Syria? "I think anybody who sees the images coming out of Syria wants to do something about it and I think terrorists have tapped into that concern and have used it to groom and radicalise these girls and other young people across Britain." Shafiq described Salma and Zahra as "everyday normal teenage girls" who he said had finished college in June and were looking forward to the start of the Ramadan festival. He said there was no trace of extremism at the mosque where the girls worshipped and claimed that their path to radicalisation may have started on the internet. "I think it's very much to do with the internet. Like al-Qaida used to use videos of Osama bin Laden, Isis use social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Ask.fm – as platforms to radicalise young people. But more worryingly somebody has paid and arranged for those girls to go out there but we just don't know who." |