Pregnant Swedish teenager held by ISIS terrorists in Syria after fleeing with boyfriend
A pregnant 15-year-old Swedish girl is being held by the Islamic State (Isis) group in Syria after running away from her foster home with her boyfriend to join al-Qaida, Swedish media reported on Monday.
The Swedish foreign ministry confirmed only minimal details.
“We have been informed that a Swedish minor is in Syria. We are in contact with family members,” a ministry spokesman, Gabriel Wernstedt, said. He refused to disclose any other details.
The Swedish daily Expressen and a local paper, Boras Tidning, reported that the 15-year-old, whose name was not disclosed, disappeared from her foster home in Boras, near the south-western town of Gothenburg, on 31 May.
It said she is six months pregnant.
She and her 19-year-old boyfriend reportedly travelled to Syria via Turkey, and were recruited on arrival by an al-Qaida-linked group.
The couple were captured by Isis fighters in the northern city of Aleppo in early August, and have been moved to an Isis-controlled area, media reports said, adding that the boyfriend was being forced to fight for the jihadist group.
The couple were married in a Muslim ceremony in Stockholm earlier this year without their parents’ knowledge.
The daughter had called her parents at least three times while being held by Isis after women secretly lent her a cell phone.
The mother told Expressen she spoke to her daughter as recently as Sunday and found out she was being held with a group of Arab women.
“I spoke to her yesterday and found out she has been moved to a group of women,” the mother said. “She is not allowed to be with her boyfriend because they aren’t considered married by [Isis]. She was very sad and very scared.
“We don’t know how to get her out of the country. Now she’s in an [Isis]-controlled area so it will be even harder.”
Earlier the father had told Boras Tidning that his daughter might be moved to live with a group of women in Manbij, a town north-east of Aleppo, if Isis militants did not recognise the marriage.
Source: The Guardian
