Interpol is searching for two Austrian teenage girls who they believe were tricked into going to Syria to fight for Islamist rebels.
Samra Kesinovic, 16, and Sabina Selimovic, 15, vanished from their homes in Vienna on April 10.
But the first hint their parents received as to where the girls might have gone was a spate of social media posts claiming they had gone to fight a ‘holy war’.
‘Never find us’: Messages from the girls, which their parents doubt were really written by them, boasted that they could not be found
But the parents say that they don’t believe the messages are being written by the girls. Authorities suspect they have been tricked into leaving the country.
Samra and Sabina come from Bosnian refugee families who settled in Austria after the ethnic wars of the 1990s, and were born in the country.
New photos on their Facebook pages show them brandishing Kalashnikov rifles – and in some cases surrounded by armed men.
However, it has since emerged that some of these pictures have been circulated online for years – casting doubt on whether they actually show the girls.
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.
The poster girls for jihad: Interpol searches for two Austrian teens ‘who went to Syria to fight for Islamic rebels’
Samra Kesinovic, 16, and Sabina Selimovic, 15, vanished on April 10
Social media posts then began, showing girls in Islamic dress
Interpol believes they have been tricked into going to Syria
Shocking photographs shown one of the girls with AK-47-wielding men
By Kieran Corcoran
Interpol is searching for two Austrian teenage girls who they believe were tricked into going to Syria to fight for Islamist rebels.
Samra Kesinovic, 16, and Sabina Selimovic, 15, vanished from their homes in Vienna on April 10.
But the first hint their parents received as to where the girls might have gone was a spate of social media posts claiming they had gone to fight a ‘holy war’.
Tricked: Samra Kesinovic, 16, is believed to have been spirited away to Syria
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Missing: Sabina Selimovic, 15, has also gone missing, leaving behind worrying messages on social media
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Missing: Samra Kesinovic, left, and Sabinas Selimovic, right, have disappeared, leaving behind Facebook posts showing them in niqabs and wielding assault rifles
‘Never find us’: Messages from the girls, which their parents doubt were really written by them, boasted that they could not be found
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‘Never find us’: Messages from the girls, which their parents doubt were really written by them, boasted that they could not be found
But the parents say that they don’t believe the messages are being written by the girls. Authorities suspect they have been tricked into leaving the country.
Samra and Sabina come from Bosnian refugee families who settled in Austria after the ethnic wars of the 1990s, and were born in the country.
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The fighting in Syria continues to be fierce – just today a bomb was detonated in the northern city of Aleppo, destroying buildings and injuring children.
War-torn: Interpol believe the girls have been taken to Syria. Pictured is a man carrying a wounded child after a bombing today in Aleppo, northern Syria
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War-torn: Interpol believe the girls have been taken to Syria. Pictured is a man carrying a wounded child after a bombing today in Aleppo, northern Syria
Damage: Emergency services respond to the bombing in war-torn Aleppo
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Damage: Emergency services respond to the bombing in war-torn Aleppo
Posts: This photograph shows Samra wearing a veil in an unknown location
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‘Tricked’: This photograph, showing Sabina in a hijab, was posted by Interpol investigators looking for the girls
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Posts: Samra, left, and Sabina, right, have posted photographs of themselves in Islamic dress from unknown locations
New photos on their Facebook pages show them brandishing Kalashnikov rifles – and in some cases surrounded by armed men.
However, it has since emerged that some of these pictures have been circulated online for years – casting doubt on whether they actually show the girls.
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.
Armed: This image, posted on Facebook, implies that it shows Sabina holding a rifle. However, the image has been available online for years so is unlikely to really show her
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Armed: This image, posted on Facebook, implies that it shows Sabina holding a rifle. However, the image has been available online for years so is unlikely to really show her
‘New life’: This post appears to show the two girls making a determined gesture – however doubts have been raised that it really shows them
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‘New life’: This post appears to show the two girls making a determined gesture – however doubts have been raised that it really shows them
It is thought that they have been sending online messages to their friends speaking of their new lives and boasting that ‘nobody will ever find us’.
Austrian media said the two teenagers had become the public face for the call to jihad in Syria, and alleged that they had been tricked into going to the country in order to publicise the call to arms.
The latest case of young people getting caught up in the Syrian conflict comes after an 18-year-old British man died in Syria – only for his father to reveal he had no idea his son had gone there.
Abdullah Deghayes, 18, from Brighton, East Sussex, was caught up in fighting in Syria. But his father Abubaker said today: ‘At the moment we do not have details of his death. All that we know is that he was killed in Syria. The family is mourning.’
Abdullah was the nephew of former Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Deghayes.
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