Missing Syria Girls

Britain is caught up in another debate about how to stop teenagers joining the Islamic State group in Syria.

This time it’s three star pupils from an East London school, all girls aged 15 or 16, who are following in the footsteps of another girl from the same school.

What’s the attraction of Islamic State for young people? How are children being radicalised on social media and how can it be stopped? Is it fair to blame the security services or UK border control for not stopping the girls going? Or their own families?

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AFP/Getty Images
A handout CCTV picture received from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on February 23, 2015 shows (L-R) British teenagers Amira Abase, Kadiza Sultana and Shamima Begum walking with luggage at Gatwick Airport, south of London, on February 17, 2015. Britain debated on February 22 how to stop teenage girls joining the Islamic State group in Syria after three high-achieving youngsters became the latest to run away from home. School friends Kadiza Sultana, 17, and 15-year-olds Shamima Begum and Amira Abase left their east London homes on February 17, 2015 and flew to Istanbul, raising concerns they would travel on to Syria to join IS jihadists.