London :Teenage twin sisters who fled the UK for Syria to become jihadi brides for Islamic State militants have tried to recruit their family to the dreaded terror group, according to a new book.
Private messages sent by Zahra and Salma Halane reveal the extent of their hatred for “infidel” Britain.
On their arrival in Syria, one of the girls thanked Allah and proclaimed, “I am 16 years old and among the women warriors of (IS),” the book says.
The disclosures, based in part on the testimony of friends and family, are contained in ‘Denmark’s Children of Holy War’, about foreign jihadists.
It provides the most detailed account yet of how the Halane sisters, nicknamed “the Terror Twins”, were radicalised.
The book written by journalist Jakob Sheikh, a terrorism expert at Politiken newspaper in Denmark, claims the British teenagers were accompanied by an adult couple and an infant when they travelled from Manchester to the Middle East last year.
It says their husbands were both later killed in battle and Salma gave birth to a boy in June.
Last year ‘The Sunday Times’ revealed how the girls’ mother, Khadra Jama, was jailed by IS after she staged a daring, but ultimately doomed, attempt to rescue her daughters.
The Halane family are of Somali origin and lived in Denmark as refugees before settling in Chorlton, Manchester.
The twins, aspiring doctors who are now 17, have an older sister and seven brothers.
Since crossing into Syria, the twins have sought to justify their flight and have tried to persuade their parents and siblings to join them, the newspaper reported.
In one message, Zahra urged her two younger brothers to sign up as “future mujaheddin”, or holy warriors.
“We might seem evil to you, but we will all be happy in jannah (the afterlife),” she added.
“Are you coming to Dawlah (IS)? They will train you up. You will meet boys from England, China, Ireland, Sweden, FROM EVERYWHERE. Want to see my Kalash (Kalashnikov)?? Ha ha ha”.
In another message, Zahra wrote, “We have a caliph and we must obey him. He said everyone that doesn’t come is kuffar (non-believer). I had to fulfil my commitment and so will you.
“Allah, the merciful, placed something in mine and Salma’s hearts that we came to hate the infidels (in Britain) to such a degree we could not even bear to look at them. My best advice to you is to get the whole family to make hijrah (travel) to the Islamic State”.
Greater Manchester police said it would be inappropriate to comment on a live investigation.
PTI