Missing Birmingham Woman 'In Syria'

28 October 2014, 09:33 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

The father of a Birmingham woman who is believed to have gone to Syria with her 14-month-old son has spoken of his shock.

Tareena Shakil's father Mohammed said he is concerned for his grandson's welfare after it emerged his daughter had travelled to Turkey and crossed into Syria despite telling her family she was going on holiday to Spain.

Mr Shakil, from Burton-upon-Trent in Staffordshire, said he was surprised at his 25-year-old daughter's actions.

``There was no reason to suspect,'' he told the newspaper. ``Tareena did drama and was in the Guides. She loved the Spice Girls and Towie.''

Tareena, who is from Sparkbrook, has contacted her family, telling them she had run across the border into Syria and is now in Raqqa - an Islamic State stronghold.

Mr Shakil said he is worried about his grandson Zaheem, adding that he ``shouldn't be going through this''.

Yesterday the family of a Portsmouth teenager killed in Syria said he was ``impressionable and naive''.

Muhammad Mehdi Hassan went to the war-torn country with a group of friends who called themselves the Britani Brigade Bangladeshi Bad Boys.

The 19-year-old, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, was killed fighting in Kobani over the weekend after travelling to the country in October last year.

His mother, who did not want to be identified, described her son as a ``loving, gentle and a kind boy'' and said the group were ``normal teenagers with good education working in a bank''.

``Something must have really ... their hearts melted when they saw what's happening in Syria,'' she told ITV News.

``They are impressionable boys and they are so naive they didn't think in balanced way about implication on life.''

A photo of Mehdi's body emerged on Twitter on Friday and his family previously confirmed to their local mosque that they had received news of his death.

His uncle, Muslim Khan, criticised the Government for making it difficult for young people fighting in Syria to return to the UK.

Out of the group of five friends three have been killed fighting for Islamic State, one is in prison in the UK after being convicted of terrorism offences, and one is believed to be in Syria fighting.

It emerged last Tuesday that another Portsmouth man, Manunur Roshid, had been killed.

The 24-year-old was understood to have joined up with fighters from the Islamic State (IS).

Two of his companions, Ifthekar Jaman, 23, and Muhammad Humidur Rahman, 25, had already died.