First of four English girls to join Islamic State left after dad remarried

The first of four teenage school friends who left London to join Islamic State has been identified as 15-year-old Sharmeena Begum, who fled at the end of last year - weeks after her father remarried. Begum, who has not previously been named, was lured by IS propaganda to go to Syria last December after 18 months of personal tumult which included her mother dying from cancer. Her father's second marriage was attended by at least one of the friends who followed in Begum's footsteps and travelled to an IS-controlled area of Syria in February. The four girls, aged 15 and 16, all went to Bethnal Green Academy in east London. It is understood that Begum flew out of the UK via Gatwick airport to Istanbul in early December, and then travelled by road across Turkey to its border with Syria. It was a similar route followed two months later by her friends Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year-olds Shamima Begum - no relation - and Amira Abase on February 17. Begum's mother died from cancer around 18 months before her daughter fled. She was living with her grandmother in east London, and when her father remarried, the ceremony was attended by Kadiza Sultana, her sister said. Halima Khanon, older sister of Kadiza, said: "Kadiza went to the wedding about a month before she disappeared." Renu Begum, the sister of Shamima Begum - who left London in February - said: "Her mum passed away 1½ years ago, the dad remarried. She was living with her nan." Begum left for Turkey on the same day that another teenager from east London was pulled from a British Airways plane on the tarmac at Heathrow by police - minutes before it was to take off for Turkey. Police believe the two attempts to join IS on the same day were unrelated. Begum's December disappearance led to an investigation by Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command, during which her school friends were interviewed as witnesses. All three of the friends who left in February were among the seven teenage girls spoken to. Police admitted they wrote letters to the parents in February, stating that their daughters' friend had gone abroad and asking for permission to take a formal statement. But instead of delivering the letters directly to the parents, police handed them to the girls themselves, who hid them in their bedrooms. The families only found the letters after the three teenagers left on February 17. They had not been told that the girl who disappeared in December had gone to Syria to live with IS.The disappearance of all four girls has ledto ructions both in Britain and Turkey. New video emerged on Friday of the three February travellers being told by a middleman to use Syrian passports while changing transport in Turkey. The mobile phone video, broadcast by Turkish broadcaster HBR, is believed to have been shot by a Syrian who helped them enter the country. He is alleged by Turkey to be an intelligence agent from one of the countries within the US-led coalition against the militant group. In the video, the teenagers can be seen in part of what is believed to be Turkey, taking their bags out of a vehicle as a male voice translates for them from Arabic to English. "This car," he tells them at one point, adding: "Take the Syrian passport - the red one." Earlier, Turkey's foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuolu, said a man arrested for allegedly helping the teenagers had been identified as a Syrian national working as an agent for a coalition country. He did not specify which one, but Turkish reports said it was Canada, although that was denied by Ottawa. French classmates recognise boy who appears to execute Arab Israeli in video A child who appears to execute an Arab Israeli in a video released last week by the Islamic State group was said to have been recognised by classmates in France, an official said. The schools inspector in the Haute-Garonne district in southern France said students in the city of Toulouse believed they had recognised the boy, who appeared to be no more than 12. "Concerning the formal identification of this person, I cannot tell you anything," Jacques Caillaut said. "Children from the Vauquelin College have recognised one of their classmates, but we must remain cautious." Shocked students had seen the video on Wednesday and counselling was put in place for them, he said. According to the inspector, students at the Vauquelin secondary school would have known the boy when he was still in primary school in Toulouse. "There is a child who has not been enrolled at the Vergers (primary) school since March 14, 2014, but I do not have any other details," Caillaut said. French officials on Thursday launched an investigation into the video, which also features a French-speaking man. According to sources close to the investigation, the man was probably Sabri Essid, who has close links to French jihadist gunman Mohamed Merah, the killer of three soldiers, three students and a teacher in southern France in 2012. In the video, a youth identifying himself as 19-year-old Mohammed Said Ismail Musallam is shown kneeling in front of the boy. A man stands at his side. Dressed in an orange jumpsuit that is standard in videos of IS executions, the man seen kneeling recounts how he was recruited by Israeli intelligence, a claim denied by his father. The man standing nearby, speaking in French, issues threats against Jews in France, before the boy walks around in front of the hostage and shoots him in the forehead using a pistol. Agence France-Presse

First of four English girls to join Islamic State left after dad remarried

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}First of four teenage friends to flee London for Syria had lost her mother to cancer and left weeks after her father's second wedding

First of four teenage friends to flee London for Syria had lost her mother to cancer and left weeks after her father's second wedding