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Family tell of shock over missing Bristol girl believed to be heading for Syria
Family tell of shock over missing Bristol girl believed to be heading for Syria
(about 4 hours later)
The family and friends of a 15-year-old schoolgirl from Bristol who is suspected of flying from Britain to join Islamist fighters in Syria have spoken of their shock and confusion.
The family of a talented 15-year-old British girl who is feared to be on her way to Syria to join extremists, have spoken of their shock and confusion at the teenager’s disappearance.
Police revealed on Monday night that the girl, Yusra Hussien, is believed to be in Turkey having left the UK last week with a 17-year-old London girl and may be trying to reach Syria.
An international hunt is under way for Yusra Hussien, who left her family home apparently after telling her parents she was away on a school trip. Instead, police said, she was thought to have gone to London, where she met a 17-year-old girl and then flew to Turkey.
Schoolfriends said she was an A-grade student who had a very bright future and wanted to be a dentist. She vanished from her home last Wednesday after failing to meet her father after school.
Avon and Somerset detectives are working with Scotland Yard anti-terrorist police and Turkish authorities to try to find if she crossed the border into Syria.
Devastated relatives of the schoolgirl, who is of Somali origin, gathered at the family’s terraced home in the Easton area of Bristol. Her mother confirmed her daughter was missing and another woman, who said she was an aunt, added: “We are all really confused.”
The girls’ parents, who are well-liked and respected members of the Somali community in Bristol, were taken aback when detectives established that she had left the country. They expressed their astonishment and said they had no idea the “intelligent, beautiful” girl had been planning to leave or why she might have gone. Friends said British-born Yusra, who had ambitions of becoming a dentist, had appeared “perfectly normal” in the days leading up to her disappearance.
Hussien’s father, who is believed to be a youth worker, refused to comment.
Senior members of the Somali community suggested that if she had been radicalised it must have been through the internet. Imams and elders have been warning parents in Bristol to look out for signs of radicalisation.
Friends at the girl’s inner-city school paid tribute to her. One said: “I have no idea what made her leave. She is a really nice girl.” Another added: “She was very smart. She was always getting As and A*s – that is the kind of student she was.”
On Tuesday a steady stream of friends and relatives arrived at the family home, a mid-terraced house in the Easton area of Bristol just north of the city centre, to give support. Among them was Anira Khokhar, who described the teenager as “an intelligent, beautiful, young lady who is being missed by her family” and was in danger.
A friend who had a lesson with the teenager the day before she went missing said she seemed “completely normal”. “I was sat next to her and she seemed fine,” she said. “She didn’t have any new friends that we knew about, and she was a completely normal girl.”
Speaking on behalf of Yusra’s parents, she said: “The family have lost a daughter. Their daughter is missing. The family are a small, tight, Somali family. They are very reserved.”
Speaking on behalf of the family outside their mid-terrace house, friend and journalist Anira Khokhar described the girl as “an intelligent, beautiful young lady who is being missed by her family”, adding: “That is all that matters at the present moment.”
She criticised media speculation about the girl’s disappearance and the police decision to say she could have been radicalised. “All the words flying around the media – jihadist, radicalisation, extremism. There’s no proof at present. It’s an ongoing investigation. The family needs space, [as for] any missing person. It doesn’t matter what religion, race you are, there’s a girl that’s missing.”
She said: “The family have lost a daughter. Their daughter is missing. The family are a small, tight Somali family. They are very reserved. They have a lot of the Somali community coming to support them in all this.
Hibaq Jama, a Bristol city councillor, read out an appeal to Yusra from her family, which said: “Please come back. We miss you very much. You’re not in any trouble. We just want you to be safe and come home as soon as possible.”
“It’s all speculation at the moment. All the words flying around the media – jihadist, radicalisation, extremism. There’s no proof at present. It’s an ongoing investigation. We need to all ensure they are a family whose daughter is somewhere they are unaware of and she is in danger.
Afzal Shah, another councillor, also speaking with the parents’ knowledge, said: “There are so many chats forums on the internet it’s very easy to get led astray.” Asked if Yusra was radicalised, Shah said: “She was certainly online. The family had no clue. They noticed she was always on her phone or computer, but then who isn’t?”
“The family is very distraught. They have got little kids in there. We have to ensure as a British community we all come together and unite and protect those young kids. The last thing they want to see about their sister is words such as ‘jihadist bride’ or radicalisation or extremism.
Police stood guard at the girl’s school, the City Academy. Friends said she was an A-grade student and seemed fine before her disappearance. They knew of no new friends of hers and she had not expressed any radical views, they said.
“The family needs space just like any other missing person. It doesn’t matter what religion, race you are, there’s a girl that’s missing. The Somali community is a very united community, a very strong community. Let them unite in this time.”
An unnamed family friend gave an insight into the family’s heartache in an article in the Bristol Post.
Bristol city councillor Hibaq Jama said: “They [the family] are absolutely devastated. They are distraught. I think it is really important to understand that at the heart of it is a grieving mother and a grieving father who as yet have no idea where their 15-year-old daughter is. The family are urging their daughter to return home.”
The friend said: “While I sat on the sofa I watched her mother sighing with so much pain. She was quiet but you could see her asking herself where she went wrong, were there signs she did not pick up on, could she have prevented this from happening?”
The family released a statement through the councillor reading: “Please come back. We miss you very much. You’re not in any trouble. We just want you to be safe and come home as soon as possible.”
In the article the friend emphasised that the girl’s mother, a dinner lady, and her father, a youth worker and amateur football coach, were law abiding and close to her. She suggested the internet was a “brain-washing machine”.
Jama added: “What we know about her is that she is an incredibly bright, incredibly articulate, popular, gifted young lady who was admired by, and very much looked up to by, her peers. She was doing very well in school. She was very aspirational, wanting to go on and become a dentist.
Neighbours also paid tribute to Yusra’s family. One, Gloria Maloney, 60, said the girl had not seemed her “normal smiley self” last time she saw her. “She had a sadness on her face.”
“So it has come as a complete shock to the parents – they are devastated – but it has also come as a shock to the community, who are now understandably asking questions about the fact that if she, as a 15-year-old girl from this community, very articulate, very well-accomplished, has disappeared then there are understandably concerns for others as well.”
At the Somali Resource Centre, staff and committee members expressed bafflement that a young girl could be heading off to Syria.
Avon and Somerset’s assistant chief constable, Louisa Rolfe, said there were indications Hussien may have been radicalised. She said: “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.
Avon and Somerset’s assistant chief constable, Louisa Rolfe, said there were indications that Yusra could have been radicalised. “We must all be vigilant and ready to spot the signs of radicalisation. Often, young Muslims who go to Syria can be naive and don’t recognise they’re being sucked into joining extremist groups.”
“Since she was reported missing by her parents we’ve carried out extensive work to trace her footsteps from the time she left home to her arrival in Istanbul, Turkey. We’re giving every support we can to her family. We want to find out where she is and encourage her to return safely.
On Monday the Guardian revealed how hundreds of young women and girls were leaving their homes in western countries to join Islamist fighters. Girls as young as 14 were recruited via social media and went to Syria to marry jihadis. It was said that among them were the twin 16-year-old sisters Zahra and Salma Halane, who left their home in Chorlton, Manchester, and reportedly married Isis fighters.
“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.”
Her parents reported her missing last Wednesday and Avon and Somerset police said the search involved detectives from the Metropolitan force and its network of international liaison officers.
In Bristol, police will be investigating how any radicalisation took place and trying to find anyone else who might be tempted to head for Syria.
Rolfe added: “Often, young Muslims who go to Syria can be naive and don’t recognise that they are being sucked into joining extremist groups.
“This is not about criminalising these young people. It’s about preventing tragedies.”
An estimated 500 to 600 Britons are believed to have travelled to Syria, and 250 have since returned. Among them are the brothers Nasser and Aseel Muthana, 20 and 17, and their friend Reyaad Khan, also 20, all from Cardiff, just 40 miles down the M4 from Bristol. Nasser and Khan appeared in a terrorist recruitment video.
