East London Mosque calls for worshippers to help trace missing schoolgirls feared to have joined IS in Syria
The three girls, pictured at Gatwick airport, who are believed to have joined to fight with IS Picture: Metropolitan Police
The appeal was made at the East London Mosque during Friday prayers after counter-terror police discovered the girls, from Tower Hamlets, had flown to Turkey after disappearing from their homes last week.
Scotland Yard said Shamima Begum, 15 - possibly travelling under the name of 17-year-old Aklima Begum -, Kadiza Sultana, 16 and a third unnamed 15-year-old are close friends from the Bethnal Green Academy.
Appeal: the East London Mosque in WhitechapelThe East London Mosque said it, along with others in Tower Hamlets, appealed to worshippers at the request of the Met.
The mosque's executive director, Dilowar Khan, said: "We are all extremely concerned about the fate of these young women, and would ask anyone who can assist with their safe return to call the police straight away."
Missing: Shamima Begum, 15, captured on CCTV at Gatwick AirportThe three girls were last seen at around 8am on Tuesday and travelled to Gatwick Airport together before boarding Turkish Airlines flight TK1966 to Istanbul.
Their whereabouts now is unknown but police fear they may have travelled to Syria to become "jihadi brides" affiliated with hardline Islamic groups.
Missing: Kadiza Sultana, 16, at Gatwick AirportBethnal Green and Bow MP Rushanara Ali said there was "deep concern" in the local community about the way young people were being radicalised.
"The community is very concerned. There is shock in what's just happened. This is a close-knit community," she told the BBC.
The third unnamed girl, 15, shown on CCTV at Gatwick"One of the things that we have got to do as a country is make sure that schools and teachers and parents who are concerned get advice and help.
"We need to make sure that we counter these ideologies. This is like grooming, this is child exploitation, and in the worst-case scenario they are potentially being used as weapons of war in those countries."
Kadiza Sultana, 16, is one of three friends thought to have travelled to SyriaThe appeal to help find the three girls was launched by counter-terror officers on Friday.
Met counter-terrorism officer Commander Richard Walton said: "We are reaching out to the girls using the Turkish media and social media in the hope that Shamima, Kadiza and their friend hear our messages, hear our concerns for their safety and have the courage to return now, back to their families who are so worried about them.
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