IS Poster Girls Kids Rescued From Begum Refugee Camp

Story By: Kathryn Quinn, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

The orphaned children of a teen who became a poster girl for the so-called Islamic State at 15 have been rescued in a top secret operation from the camp where Shamina Begum gave birth.

Sabina Selimovic was just 15 when she left home to join the terrorist group in Syria in April 2014, with her friend Samra, before later marrying and having children with IS fighters.

Pictures Credit:CEN

Sabina and Samra were recruited by hate preacher Ebu Tejma, the alias of 35-year-old Bosnian-born religious leader Mirsad Omerovic, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in Austria.

Sabina is thought to have died earlier this year during fighting in the Is stronghold Baghouz, leaving both children orphaned.

Pictures Credit:CEN

Now the Foreign Ministry has confirmed the children have been rescued in a top secret government operation and are now in the Austrian capital of Vienna.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Peter Guschelbauer said: “The children have landed in Austria. The safety of the the children and all involved and their well-being is at the centre of this operation.”

The children will be cared for by their grandparents following DNA tests.

The grandparents were granted custody of the two children in the middle of August and on August 24 the plans were approved to rescue the children from the al-Hol Kurdish refugee camp in Northern Syria.

The al-Hol camp is the same place where British IS bridge Shamina Begum was previously held and gave birth to her infant son earlier this year.

After landing at Vienna airport yesterday (weds) the children were taken to the Military Hospital in Vienna where they will be looked after initially.

Due to security concerns no further details of the rescue effort will be made public.

Peter Guschelbauer from the Austrian Foreign Ministry added: “For us the most important thing is keeping the children’s welfare as our top priority.”

Former Austrian Interior Minister Herbert Kickl from the far-right FPO branded the action: “A step in the wrong direction.”

The case of a further Austrian woman Maria G.who is also in Syria with her one and four-year-old daughter continues with similar DNA plans in place.

Prosecutors said Ebu Tejma travelled Europe “like a pop star on tour”, driving top-of-the-range sports cars bought with the money he raised from believers. He was convicted in July 2016 of recruiting more than 160 fighters for IS in Syria.

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