Islamic State matchmaker tells she is being held again after escaping Syrian camp

A British “Islamic State matchmaker”, who fled a Syrian camp last week, has told ITV News she is being moved by Turkish-backed militia from a safe house where she was held alongside a former Irish soldier.

In a panicked voice message sent from the Turkey-Syria border, Tooba Gondal, a former student at Goldsmiths University, explained how she was about to be moved to an unknown location by armed men.

She said: “I’m sending a voice note just so you know it is me they are moving us right now.”

“Vans are ready and I don’t know where they’re taking us and I don’t know what’s going to happen… I don’t where to, I don’t know when we can talk. Just need to offer us some help,” she added.

The 25-year-old left her home in east London to travel to Syria in 2015. She is accused of being an online propagandist for the terrorist group.

She escaped with her three children from Ain Issa camp during a prisoner breakout on Sunday which followed the launch of Turkey’s military operation in Syria.

Last night she said she was being held with Lisa Smith, a former steward on the Irish government jet, who had befriended Gondal inside the Kurdish camp.

In a message shared with ITV News, Gondal said: “Lisa Smith’s family, tell them not to worry, everything is fine and any information you have update her family also because maybe they’re also worried and concerned and they don’t have like contacts and she’s worried about them.”

She added: “I would like my situation to be in the news so more people know that I’m here and the government of Turkey can help me get out here, get out from these, you know, this rebel group.”

Source: ITV