Bethnal Green schoolgirls identified in Syria in covert video footage

The Telegraph has obtained video from Raqqa in Syria which purports to show at least two of the three British schoolgirls who left the UK in February to join Isil.

The footage – filmed by activists in the city – shows three women, one of whom is armed with a Kalashnikov automatic rifle, walking through the streets of the city.

Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15, ran away from their homes in Bethnal Green, east London five months ago.

Credible sources have told The Telegraph’s Ruth Sherlock that the video features at least two of the girls.

The third woman in the video is said to to be the girls’ handler, Um Laith. A senior female member of Isil, Um Laith has reportedly been charged with looking after the girls, and, the activists report, she rarely lets them out of her sight.

At 9.30pm BST we will publish on this page the first full account of how, after escaping from Britain, the girls were smuggled into Syria and how they have spent their time with the extremists since.

The details have been supplied by anti-Isil activists in the city who have monitored the girls’ movements, and other knowledgeable sources.

The report is here. They were living in a compound for unmarried women and widows. They are being trained until their trustworthiness is beyond doubt. One or twice a week they are allowed out with a chaperone to carry the groceries back to the compound. It’s heady stuff!