On the road to Syria

But instead of heading towards a local hostel, these three girls are preparing to board a bus for the 17-hour trip to the Syrian border.

This image shows Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year-old Amira Abase on their way to become ‘jihadi brides’ for Islamic State terrorists.

The teenagers sparked an international manhunt last month by slipping out of their East London homes to join extremists fighting a so-called ‘holy war’.

Grainy CCTV footage shows the GCSE pupils waiting at Bayrampasa bus station, in a suburb on the west side of Istanbul, before the final leg of their treacherous trip. 

Hours earlier, on February 17, they had landed on a Turkish Airlines flight from Gatwick after telling their families they were going out for the day.

The images were released as the UK’s top counter-terrorism officer revealed about 60 British women, including at least 18 teenagers, had travelled to Syria to join the barbaric Muslim fanatics. 

Yesterday’s footage shows the latest three, all pupils at Bethnal Green Academy, waiting 17 hours at the station after buying tickets to Urfa, near the Syrian border.

Calmly carrying their luggage and chatting among themselves, they seem composed and confident as they move between the crowds. They also appear to have changed from the clothes they were wearing when leaving Gatwick to more traditional Islamic dress.

The five images of the girls were taken between 8.27pm local time (6.27pm GMT) on February 17 and 1.22pm local time (11.22am GMT) the following day.

A week after the trio left their homes, Scotland Yard said they were believed to have entered Syria. Smugglers in the Turkish border town of Akcakale said they had crossed the border using false Syrian IDs, accompanied by a man claiming to be their father.

Police believe they are currently in the terror stronghold of Raqqa, where they face being married off to foreign fighters.

Neither Turkish Airlines nor the UK Border Force reported that the girls were intending to travel unaccompanied to the region, despite it being a key staging post on the journey to Syria.

Scotland Yard has also denied taking three days to inform officials in Turkey about the girls’ planned journey, insisting it was liaising with the Turkish authorities a day after the girls vanished.

MPs have called for an inquiry into the effectiveness of border controls in stopping British youngsters travelling to the war zone.

(dailymail.co.uk)