Three schoolgirls feared to be intent on joining Islamic State (IS) have crossed into Syria from Turkey, police believe. Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year-old Amira Abase sparked a police hunt after they flew to Istanbul from Gatwick Airport last Tuesday.
Scotland Yard on Tuesday said counter-terrorism officers leading the investigation "now have reason to believe that they are no longer in Turkey and have crossed into Syria". A spokesman added: "Officers continue to work closely with the Turkish authorities on this investigation."
Earlier police denied claims that they failed to contact Turkish authorities about the three girls. Turkish deputy prime minister Bulent Arinc told reporters that British officials would be accountable should the search prove fruitless because of a three-day delay in alerting the country.
But Scotland Yard said they began working with Turkish authorities the day after the first two teenagers were reported missing a week ago. A public appeal for information about the missing girls was launched by police on Friday, three days after the girls boarded their flight to Turkey.
Arinc criticised the police for not taking "necessary measures". He said: "It is a condemnable act for Britain to let three girls ... come to Istanbul and then let us know three days later. They haven't taken the necessary measures. The search is ongoing. It would be great if we can find them. But if we can't, it is not us who will be responsible, but the British."
It comes after Prime Minister David Cameron urged airlines and internet companies to do more to prevent radicalised British teenagers travelling to the Middle East. Earlier, the girls' headteacher said he was "shocked and saddened" by their disappearance, but said police had not found evidence that they were radicalised at school.
Mark Keary, principal of Bethnal Green Academy in east London, said police spoke to the girls after another student disappeared in December and indicated at the time that there was no evidence that they were at risk of being radicalised or absconding.
He also said access to social media at the school was "strictly regulated". A tweet sent from a Twitter account under Shamima's name was sent to Aqsa Mahmood, who left Glasgow for Syria to be a "jihadi bride" in 2013.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "We work very closely with the Turkish authorities on a whole series of security measures. We are going to continue to do so. It is a good, strong, constructive relationship. We are working with them on this case. We are going to keep working very closely with the Turkish authorities on what is a shared challenge."
Relatives of the three schoolgirls have made emotional pleas for them to come home amid fears they may have been recruited by jihadists on the internet.
Schoolgirls headed to Syria
The girls pictured at Gatwick Airport(01 of04)
Open Image ModalShamima Begum at Gatwick airport(02 of04)
Open Image ModalKadiza Sultana at Gatwick airport(03 of04)
Open Image ModalThe third girl at Gatwick airport(04 of04)
Open Image ModalAnyone with any information about where the three girls are should call the police incident room via the free phone Anti-Terrorist Hotline number on 0800 789 321.
Women of Isis
Twins Salma and Zahra Halane(01 of10)
Open Image ModalKhadijah Dare aka Muhajirah fi Sham(02 of10)
Open Image ModalAqsa Mahmood aka Umm Layth (03 of10)
Open Image ModalUmm Layth was a prolific tweeter until she was identified in the press as 20-year-old Glaswegian Aqsa Mahmood.In her tweets, she urged Muslim men and women who could not come to fight to instead commit terrorist atrocities at home, praising the brutal murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich, the bombing of the Boston Marathon and the shooting of soldiers at Fort Hood in Texas. "If you cannot make it to the battlefield, then bring the battlefield to yourself," she tweeted.Mahmood, who is now married to an Isis fighter, attended the prestigious Craigholme School and was studying radiography at Glasgow Caledonian University when she left for Syria. Her family reported her missing to police in November 2013.Despite praising al Qaeda terrorists and encouraging more attacks, her tweets betray her Westernised roots. One asks for someone to "make a Hijrah [pilgrimage] from Scotland already and bring me Irn-Bru.” She also tweeted with delight at receiving European food, including Pringles crisps and Nutella.
Al Khanssaa(04 of10)
Open Image ModalA close friend of Aqsa and a Brit of Somalian heritage, Khanssaa is described on Twitter as the "cook of the house" in Raqqa where several girls live. She tweets them offering up Nutella pancakes. Unlike many of the other girls who have tweeted about how their families disapprove of their mission to Syria, Khanssaa said she is following in the footsteps of her father who left her family to fight a holy war, though she does not specify where.
Umm Anwar / Umm Farris(05 of10)
Open Image ModalWith the black flag of Isis as her profile picture, Umm Anwar, who also goes by the name Umm Farris, is one of the four British girls married to an Islamic State fighters who has only recently been identified by researchers. She is believed to be based in Raqqa, and recently said she was surprised to discover a ‘Yazidi slave girl’ from Iraq in a home she visited. As well as retweeting praise for Islamic State fighters and the Caliphate, she mentions shopping and joking with her friends in the city while her husband fights.
GreenBirds22(06 of10)
Open Image ModalThough much of her account extols the virtue of jihad, the third member of the British girl gang in Raqqa peppers her tweets with English slang, like ‘ain’t’ and calls her fellow ISIS wives ‘babesss’. Going under the name 'Black Banners' on Twitter, where her profile picture includes Osama Bin Laden, she suggested she is the second wife of a fighterShe tweets about being “bored” in Raqqa and asks her friends repeatedly to meet up and visit her. Her twitter also includes retweets of beautiful pictures and Vines, including a sunset at the Golden Gate bridge, San Francisco, and a comedy sketch about accidentally dropping a cookie in milk.
UkhtiB(07 of10)
Open Image ModalA close friend of Anwar, the pair joke about their shopping habits on Twitter, arrange lifts, drink smoothies and cook each other food. Her background is unclear, but she hints that her family disapprove of her being in Syria, tweeting: “Your family will be the biggest test for you once you make Hijrāh. They're either with you or without you.”Much of her feed consists of retweets of local fighters and of Islamic sayings, as well as graphic pictures of the dead from Iraq, Syria and Gaza.
Umm Talib(08 of10)
Open Image ModalUmm Khattab(09 of10)
Open Image ModalSally Jones aka Umm Hussain al-Britani(10 of10)
Open Image ModalFormerly a rock musician in a local band, the 45-year-old mother-of-two from Chatham, Kent, is believed to have converted to Islam to marry a British Isis fighter Junaid Hussain. The couple are reported to have moved to Raqqa, leaving her children behind.Her Twitter account under the name Umm Hussain al-Britani, contains threats like "You Christians all need beheading with a blunt knife and stuck on the railings at Raqqa... Come here I'll do it for you."