Report Of UK Girls Escaping IS Investigated

The Foreign Office says it is "looking into" reports that three British schoolgirls are on the run after escaping from Islamic State in Iraq.

It comes as the Home Secretary declined to say whether the girls would be allowed back into the UK.

An Iraqi blogger, posting on 5 May, claimed the terror group had been searching "all its checkpoints" for three British girls who are "married to ISIL militants".

There is speculation the trio could be the London schoolgirls who ran away to join IS earlier this year.

Kadiza Sultana, Amira Abase and Shamima Begum were recorded on CCTV in Turkey on 18 February.

It is believed they were later smuggled across the border to reach IS territory in Syria and were staying in Raqqa.

They disappeared after telling their families they would be out for the day and are thought to have stolen family jewellery to pay for the journey.

Asked about the missing girls on ITV's Good Morning Britain, Theresa May would only say that attempts to return to Britain are dealt with on a "case-by-case basis".

Ms May revealed some Britons had already decided to come back to the UK after realising "what a mistake they’ve made" and that life under IS is "not what they thought it was going to be".

The Mosul Eye blog, which wrote about the girls possibly being on the run , said it could not yet verify it was the same girls.

"We cannot confirm, as of yet, if those girls were the same trio mentioned in the British media, as their identities still unknown to us," said a post on 12 May.

"We don't have any new details about the girls … We will keep you posted with any further information."

A Foreign Office spokesman told Sky News: "We are aware of the reports and are looking into them."

The anonymous Mosul blogger claims to be an "independent historian" living in Mosul.

He or she posts updates said to detail life under the IS regime in Iraq’s second city, such as routine public executions, lashings, surprise house searches and the deaths of militants in air strikes.

The three missing girls - two aged 15, one aged 16 - were pupils at London's Bethnal Green Academy.

A month after their disappearance, four other girls from the same school were banned from leaving the UK over fears they too were intent on becoming so-called 'jihadi brides'.

Security services estimate 600 Britons have gone to Syria or Iraq to join militant groups, including Mohammed Emwazi, also known as "Jihadi John", who has appeared in several IS beheading videos.