The International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) is searching for two ‘jihadi poster girls’ who it fears may have been tricked into going to Syria and fighting on the side of Islamist rebels opposing Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The two photogenic Austrian girls are just 16 and 15 years old respectively, and disappeared on April 10th before information began circulating on social media about their disappearances. Some images claimed to show them both in full Islamic dress, including facial coverings.
The hunt for Samra Kesinovic, 16, and Sabina Selimovic, 15 who are both of Bosnian extraction, is intensifying after new Facebook photos appeared to show them brandishing Kalashnikov rifles. But their parents and friends are unconvinced that many of the pictures being circulated are indeed of the two girls.
The Mail reports: “In the latest posting they announced plans to marry so that they could become ‘holy warriors’ and in the messages they say: ‘Death is our goal’. Their families doubt that the messages were really written by them.”
“Austrian officials believe that the pair, judging by the scenes around them, are in a training camp and are not only already married, but also already living in the homes of their new husbands. In Vienna the family admitted that the two had recently started going to a local mosque run by a radical Imam, Ebu Tejma.
“The girls’ fathers are reportedly already abroad looking for their daughters, who have not contacted their parents.” Austrian police say they are conducting an international search the two teenagers who left farewell letters announcing plans to “fight for Islam” in Syria.
Police spokesman Thomas Keiblinger says two identical letters left by the 15- and 16-year olds say “we have gone to Syria to fight for Islam. We will meet in Paradise.”
Both girls come from families who immigrated from Bosnia. Keiblinger says police determined the two flew to the Turkish city of Adana, about 125 kilometers (75 miles) northwest of the Syrian city of Aleppo, before losing track of them. Their parents reported them missing last week.
Keiblinger said last Monday that Austrian authorities are taking the letters “very seriously.”
The pair have apparently boasted about never being found. The news follows the latest reports of a British boy who was recently killed in Syria. Speaking in the United Kingdom this weekend, Abdullah Deghaye’s father called him a martyr.AP contributed to this report
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