Nine British medics enter IS stronghold to work in hospitals

March 22, 2015 15:25

Nine young British medical students have travelled illegally to Syria and are believed to be working in hospitals in Islamic State-controlled areas. Their families were mounting a desperate effort at the Turkish-Syrian border to persuade them to come home.

The group of four women and five men crossed the border last week, apparently keeping their plans secret from relatives until just before entering Syria, when one woman sent her sister a brief message and a smiling selfie.

"We all assume that they are in Tel Abyad now, which is under Islamic State control. The conflict out there is fierce, so medical help must be needed," Turkish opposition politician Mehmet Ali Ediboglu told the Observer, shortly after meeting the families.

"They have been cheated, brainwashed. That is what I, and their relatives, think." Both he and the students' parents were convinced that the young medics wanted to work with IS, Ediboglu said, but they were also certain that the group did not plan to take up arms. "Let's not forget about the fact that they are doctors; they went there to help, not to fight. So this case is a little bit different."

« Back to LIVE

TOP STORIES

Will come to BJP HQ, jail whoever you want: Kejriwal dares Modi

Kejriwal asserted that his party could not be crushed by sending its leaders to jail.

Performance is my only currency: Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli says he doesn't need either approval or assurance from anyone on his capability.

Modi won't debate with me because...: Rahul

Gandhi said the debate would end after these two questions only, but he also wants to ask the prime minister why did he ask the public to bang plates and flash mobile phones when people were suffering from the Covid pandemic.

Model of Chinook chopper goes missing? Defence ministry clarifies

Defence Ministry spokesperson A Bharat Bhushan Babu said the DRDO never installed any helicopter model in Lucknow.

Buried Art 370 in 'kabristan', Cong can't restore it: Modi

Modi referred to the Lok Sabha polls as a "Kurukshetra (battle)" in which "there is development on one hand and 'vote jihad' on the other".