“Please come back… You are not in any trouble. We just want you to be safe,” say the family of the 15-year-old girl from Bristol who is believed to be heading to join extremists in Syria.
The teen, who has not been officially named, was reported missing from her home in Bristol last week and is now known to be in Turkey, probably with another 17-year-old girl who is also missing.
Police said they have been tracking her movements and were concerned that she might be on her way to Syria, amid “indications” that the pair had been radicalised.
Her family, who are Somali, said in a statement: “Please come back. We miss you very much. You are not in any trouble. We just want you to be safe and to come home as soon as possible.”
Family spokeswoman Anira Khokhar said she was an “intelligent, beautiful young lady” and described reports she was heading to Syria as “speculation”.
They are just a family whose daughter is somewhere they are unaware of and she is in danger. Family spokeswoman Anira Khokhar
“The family have lost a daughter and that is the most important thing here,” she told reporters outside the girl’s home in the Easton area of the city.
“The daughter is missing and we need to all ensure that we respect the family at this particular point in time. They are just a family whose daughter is somewhere they are unaware of and she is in danger. The family is very distraught but I think they are far more upset that the media is camping outside their house.
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“They can’t go outside, they have little kids in there. We have to ensure that as a British community we all come together and unite and protect those young kids. They are a very small, tight, Somali family and they are very reserved. They have a lot of the Somali community coming to support them in all this.”
Louisa Rolfe, assistant chief constable of Avon and Somerset Police, said the force was working with the Met Police and their network of international liaison officers to try and find the missing 15-year-old, and encourage her to return safely.
“We can confirm that a 15-year-old student from Bristol has travelled to Turkey and we understand she may be attempting to make her way to Syria,” she said.
“There are indications she may have been radicalised but at the moment our priority is to find her before she crosses the border to Syria and make sure she is safe.
“We must all be vigilant and ready to spot the signs of radicalisation. Often, young Muslims who go to Syria hold can be naive and don’t recognise that they are being sucked into joining extremist groups.”
She added: “This is not about criminalising these young people, it’s about preventing tragedies.”
In July, twin schoolgirls from Manchester followed their brother to Syria and are now believed to be married to Islamic State group fighters.
British authorities have expressed increasing concern about hundreds of UK-born would-be jihadis who have gone to join Islamist forces in Syria.
At the Conservative Party conference on Tuesday, Home Secretary Theresa May said she has so far removed the passports of 25 Britons trying to get there, while 103 people have been arrested in relation to terrorism in Syria. Of those arrested, 24 have been charged and five convicted.