You won't believe what happened to these misguided teens who joined ISIS
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Two Austrian teenagers joined ISIS and became "poster girls" last year. Since then, one has been reportedly beaten to death during an attempt to escape Syria, while the other has been declared missing.
Highlights
CALIFORNIA NETWORK (https://www.youtube.com/c/californianetwork)
11/24/2015 (9 years ago)
Published in Middle East
Keywords: Sabina Selimovic, Samra Kesinovic, ISIS, Syria, Austrian, Raqqa, David Scharia, Ebu Tejma, religion, Alexander Marakovits
LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The teenagers, Samra Kesinovic and Sabina Selimovic, disappeared from their Vienna, Austria homes when they were only 15-years-old. They left a note to their parents, explaining they had gone to Syria to join ISIS and were later identified as "poster girls" for ISIS recruitment advertisements.
Since arriving in Syria April of last year, both girls appeared on social networking platforms holding Kalashnikov rifles and surrounded by armed men, which Austrian police explained were used as recruitment posters aimed at young girls.
Shortly after arriving in Syria, it is believed Kesinovic and Slimovic lived together in the same room, but married quickly and moved to different rooms.
With her husband's permission, Slimovic spoke to French weekly Paris Match, and denied claims she was pregnant before insisting she was enjoying her life in Syria, where she could practice her religion in ways she never could have in Austria.
She specified that after their arrival to Turkey, she and Kesinovic crossed the border to Syria on foot and settled in Raqqa with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. The teen also clarified that her husband was a soldier and said, "Here I can really be free. I can practice my religion. I couldn't do that in Vienna."
David Scharia, a Senior Israeli expert at the United Nations Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee explained the situation, saying: "We received information just recently about two 15-year-old girls of Bosnian origin, who left Austria, where they had been living in recent years; and everyone, the families and the intelligence services of the two countries, is looking for them."
When asked for more specifics, Scharia added, "Both were recruited by Islamic State. One was killed in the fighting in Syria, the other has disappeared."
Three months prior to Scharia's confirmation, the Austrian government claimed it had informed the parents of each girl that one of the two had possibly been killed.
Ebu Tejma, an Islamic preacher from Bosnia, is credited for the radicalization of the girls, with authorities saying he brainwashed them into joining the jihad. Tejma denies that is the case but was arrested for participating in an alleged terrorist funding network based in Austria.
Since her interview, there have been several Austrian newspapers claiming Kesinovic was beaten to death during an attempt to leave Raqqa while Slimovic remains missing, but official government sources have refused to comment.
Austrian Interior Ministry spokesman Alexander Marakovits, commented on the increasing problem with young people wanting to join ISIS. He said: "If we can catch them before they leave we have the chance to work with their parents and other institutions to bring the youngsters out of the sphere of influence that prompted them to act in this way [in] the first place. Once they have left the country, even if they changed their minds, ti is then almost impossible to get them back."
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