The couple, from Easton, Bristol, also begged anyone who had seen Yusra to contact police.
Family spokesman Hibaq Jama said Mohammed, Safiya, their younger daughter and three sons are “devastated”.
The Labour councillor added: “They are distraught. Yusra was very aspirational, wanting to go on and become a dentist.
"She is an incredibly bright, incredibly articulate, popular, gifted young lady who was admired by, and very much looked up to, by other members of her peers.
“She was doing very well in school, she is in year 11 and has started that final year of her education.
“So it has come as a complete shock to the parents. 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, very articulate, has disappeared, then there are understandably concerns for others.
“I think it is really important to understand that at the heart of it is a grieving mother and a grieving father who as of yet have no idea where their 15-year-old daughter is.
"They have not been able to make contact with her since she went missing.”
© SWNS Group 
The other teenager believed to have fled with Yusra, who was born here, is from Lambeth in South London. Both have Somali backgrounds.
They met up at Heathrow airport and boarded a plane to Istanbul.
Yusra vanished last Wednesday after failing to meet youth worker Mohammed outside her school, The City Academy.
It is believed the pair are still in eastern Turkey, close to the Syrian border.
Mohammed and dinner lady Safiya were being comforted by relatives at their four-bedroom terraced home.
Family friend Afzal Shah said he feared Yusra’s decision to join a holy war had been influenced by figures online.
The local councillor added: “The family noticed recently she was always on her phone and computer but they didn’t have a clue what was going on.
“The understanding I have is that it was self-radicalisation.
“There are so many forums and chat rooms on the internet and it is very easy to be led astray.
“I don’t think it took that long. It was over a maximum of months, definitely not years. This is absolutely tragic.
“The police are trying to find out how she got the money to pay for the flight.
“It also begs the question how can a 15-year-old child be allowed to board a plane, just like that. The police have an idea where she is. Indications are that she could be in eastern Turkey.
“IS are a menace to the whole of society. They have nothing to do with the Muslim faith whatsoever."
Officers are still at the family home after spending several hours there.
Friend Anira Khokhar said: “The last thing they want to see about her is words like jihadist bride and radicalisation.
"There is a girl that’s missing and we have to ensure she is in safe hands.
"The Somali community are a very strong and united community. They need to be there for one another.”
MDM 
A 14-year-old pal of Yusra’s added: “She is a good friend. I have no idea what made her leave.”
Yusra’s neighbour Gloria Maloney told how she knew something was wrong when she saw Safiya in the street.
She said: “I could see that she had a sadness on her face. She always had a smile on her face. I’m shocked this has happened. She is a very good girl.
“I’m shocked about her going to fight a war at 15. She still goes to school.”
Another family friend said of Yusra’s disappearance: “It wasn’t the fact that the mother could not communicate with her daughter due to language barriers, it wasn’t because the home was a broken home, or because she was a loner.
“But what it all seemed to point to was the main brainwashing machine, the internet.
"An entity that has no barriers, no such alarms that go off when a young person may be involved in any such discussion of extremism.”
Bristol has a population of between 8,000 and 10,000 Somalis.
The city’s Muslim Cultural Society community development officer Rizwan Ahmed said: “This has hit everyone like a bombshell. Unfortunately people get radicalised on the internet and if they want to go they are going to go.”
Rafiqul Alam, Imam at the nearby Shah Jalal Jame mosque, added: “It is terrible. In this mosque we always talk against any kind of violence or injustice.
"We get every community here and so far as I know Bristol is calm and liberal. There is no radicalism here.”
Avon & Somerset Police Assistant Chief Constable Louisa Rolfe said: “We can confirm a 15-year-old Bristol student has travelled to Turkey and may be attempting to make her way to Syria.
"There are indications she may have been radicalised. Our priority is to find her before she crosses the border.”
Terrorism experts believe up to 50 girls and women are among 500 Brits who have gone to fight in Syria or Iraq.
No comments:
Post a Comment