Image caption Police released CCTV footage of the three girls at Gatwick Airport 
 
 Three east London schoolgirls have flown to Turkey and there are fears they may cross the Syrian border and join the Islamic State terrorist group. 
 
 Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and an unnamed 15-year-old, pupils at Bethnal Green Academy, flew from Gatwick on Tuesday, during half-term. 
 
 Commander Richard Walton, of the Metropolitan Police, said he feared they were "extremely vulnerable". 
 
 The trio are friends with a fourth girl who travelled to Syria in December. 
 
 At the time the three girls were interviewed as her friends, police said. 
 
 Cdr Walton said the teenagers' families were "devastated" but there was a "good chance" the girls were still in Turkey. 
 
 Media caption Cmdr Richard Walton: "The girls will be in grave danger in Syria" 
 
 He hoped a police appeal, via social media, would persuade them not to enter Syria. 
 
 The girls were last seen at their homes on Tuesday morning when they gave their families "plausible reasons" to be out for the day, police said. 
 
 They boarded a Turkish Airlines flight, which landed in Turkey on Tuesday evening. 
 
 The third girl is not being named at the request of her family. 
 
 Shamima is possibly travelling under the name of her 17-year-old sister Aklima Begum, police said. 
 
 'Increasing concerns' 
 
 Cdr Walton said he hoped the trio would "hear our concerns for their safety and have the courage to return now, back to their families who are so worried about them." 
 
 He said the force was becoming "increasingly concerned" about a growing trend of young girls showing an interest in joining Islamic State. 
 
 "The choice of returning home from Syria is often taken away from those under the control of Islamic State, leaving their families in the UK devastated and with very few options to secure their safe return," he said. 
 
 "If we are able to locate these girls whilst they are still in Turkey, we have a good possibility of being able to bring them home to their families." 
 
 Shamima and the unnamed 15-year-old were reported missing by their families on Tuesday evening, while Kadiza was reported missing on Wednesday morning. 
 
 Image caption Kadiza Sultana, aged 16, is the oldest of the trio, who are all in the same school year 
 
 Police have issued a description of the three girls: 
 
 Kadiza Sultana is 5ft 6in and slim build. She was wearing black rimmed glasses, a long black jacket with a hood, a grey striped scarf, a grey jumper and dark red trousers and was carrying a black holdall. She speaks English with a London accent and Bengali. 
 
 Shamima Begum is 5ft 7in. She was wearing black, thick-rimmed glasses, a black hijab, a light brown and black leopard-print scarf, a dark red jumper, black trousers and a jacket, and was carrying a dark blue holdall with white straps. She speaks English with a London accent and Bengali. 
 
 The 15-year-old unnamed girl is 5ft 6in and slim build. She was wearing black, thick-rimmed glasses, a black headscarf, a long dark green jacket with a fur-lined hood, a light yellow long-sleeved top, black trousers and white trainers, and was carrying a black Nike holdall. She speaks English and Amharic. 
 
 Image caption Shamima Begum, 15, could be travelling under the name of Aklima Begum, police said 
 
 Salman Farsi, a spokesman for the East London Mosque, said he thought the girls had been "misled". 
 
 A fellow pupil at Bethnal Green Academy, identified only as Sadek, said what happened was "really sad" and urged the trio to return. 
 
 BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera said ambassador Thomas Krajeski, senior adviser for foreign fighters at the US state department, said that more than 20,000 people have gone to Iraq and Syria from more than 100 countries. 
 
 British officials have said that this includes at least 600 people from the UK. 
 
 Our correspondent added Turkey has long been the primary entry point for those heading to Iraq and Syria. 
 
 Image caption CCTV captured the girls passing through security at Gatwick Airport 
 
 Dr Erin Saltman, from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which offers independent expertise in counter-terrorism, said IS propaganda targets young women specifically with the promise of being part of a humanitarian movement. 
 
 She said: "They are the wives and mothers of the future jihadists so quite a lot of dedication and time has been put into trying to allure these younger women to come and join in these efforts. 
 
 "They are very much restricted to the house and home for the most part. There is strict sharia law in the region." 
 
 Media caption "The reality is quite grim and the terrain very harsh especially for such young individuals" 
 
 BBC home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford said it was "absolutely extraordinary" that four girls from the same year at the same school had travelled to Syria, with the apparent aim of joining IS. 
 
 He said "very difficult questions" were being asked about how friends, family and the police had not managed to dissuade the three girls from going to Syria when their best friend had travelled to the country in December. 
 
 Home Secretary Theresa May said it was important "to look at the whole question of the ideology that is driving these actions" and the government was working on extremism strategy. 
 
 But shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the idea of the schoolgirls travelling to Syria was "very disturbing" and showed more action was needed to counteract extremist recruitment messages. 
 
 A spokeswoman for Tower Hamlets Council said it fully supported the appeal issued by the police. 
 
 A Turkish Airlines official told the BBC the airline is only responsible for checking that visas are valid for passengers before check-in and boarding flights and that all other security issues before flight are "the responsibility of the official airport authorities". 
 
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 When you tweet with a location, Twitter stores that location. You can switch location on/off before each Tweet and always have the option to delete your location history. Learn more ||||| Counter-terrorism police open international search for three girls who left their homes in east London last week and caught a flight to Turkey 
 
 British counter-terrorism police have launched an international hunt to find three London schoolgirls feared to be making their way towards Islamic State (Isis) territory in Syria after fleeing the UK. 
 
 The girls, named as Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and an unidentified 15-year-old girl, slipped out of their homes in east London last Tuesday and caught a flight to Istanbul, Turkey, from where they are thought to be travelling to the Syrian border. 
 
 In the first public appeal of its kind, Scotland Yard counter-terrorism detectives pleaded for information about the whereabouts of the girls and urged them to return home to their “devastated” families. 
 
 
 
 The three girls, all students at Bethnal Green academy in east London, were friends with a 15-year-old girl who is believed to have travelled to join Isis last December. 
 
 
 
 Kadiza Sultana. Photograph: Met police 
 
 The three girls were interviewed in December by detectives about the whereabouts of their friend but were not themselves considered at risk of fleeing Britain. There are now concerns that the girls may be planning to meet up with their friend in Isis-held territory. 
 
 Counter Terrorism Command (SO15) Commander Richard Walton said: “We are extremely concerned for the safety of these young girls and would urge anyone with information to come forward and speak to police. Our priority is the safe return of these girls to their families. 
 
 “We are reaching out to the girls using the Turkish media and social media in the hope that Shamima, Kadiza and their friend hear our messages, hear our concerns for their safety and have the courage to return now, back to their families who are so worried about them.” 
 
 Counter-terrorism officers said the three girls left their homes before 8am last Tuesday providing their families with plausible reasons as to why they would be out for the day. One of the girls told her family she would be studying. 
 
 
 
 Instead they met and travelled to Gatwick airport. They boarded Turkish Airlines flight TK1966, which departed at 12:40pm to Istanbul, Turkey and landed at 6:40pm local time. 
 
 Shamima Begum. Photograph: Met police 
 
 Walton said it was possible the girls have not yet travelled far from Istanbul, given the snowy weather conditions there, but they are thought to be intending to go to Syria. 
 
 Turkish Airlines is facing questions about why it failed to notify police that the girls were travelling alone on a well-worn path to Isis-held territory. 
 
 Walton said: “We have been engaged with the airlines on this issue for some time and we’ve had some cooperation with the airlines. On this particular occasion, we weren’t notified that these girls were travelling. If we had been notified then we might have been able to intervene.” 
 
 Rushanara Ali, MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, the constituency where the girls went to school, said questions needed to be asked about border controls. 
 
 
 
 The girls left at a time when British counter-terrorism officials had been warning of the dangers of people traveling to Syria, often via Turkey, to join extremist groups. Ali said: “We need the government to look at the arrangements at border control and whether they are appropriate for unaccompanied minors on these routes.” 
 
 Shamina, who travelled using her sister Aklima’s passport, is described as approximately 5ft 7in tall. She was wearing black thick-rimmed glasses, a black hijab, a light brown and black leopard-print scarf, dark red jumper, black trousers and jacket, and was carrying a dark blue cylindrical holdall with white straps. She is a British national and speaks English with a London accent. She also speaks Bengali. 
 
 
 
 Kadiza is described as 5ft 6in tall, of slim build and wearing black-rimmed glasses, a long black jacket with a hood, grey striped scarf, grey jumper, dark red trousers, and carrying a black holdall. She is also a British national who speaks English with a London accent, and also speaks Bengali. 
 
 The third missing girl, who is not being named at the request of her family, is described as 5ft 6in tall and of slim build. She was wearing black thick-rimmed glasses, a black headscarf, long dark green jacket with fur-lined hood, light yellow long-sleeved top, black trousers, white trainers and carrying a black Nike holdall. She speaks English and Amharic. 
 
 Salman Farsi, a spokesman for the East London Mosque, said a sister of one of the girls approached the mosque for help and had broken down in tears on the phone. “I told her that if you need anything from us just let us know and she said that all they need is our prayers and she started crying – that really upset me. I can empathise with them. The community here is quite close and this feels quite close to home,” he said. 
 
 Farsi said the girls had been misled and manipulated but said he did not know who or what had persuaded the girls to flee Britain. 
 
 During a hastily arranged press conference at Scotland Yard, Walton said officers were concerned about the numbers of girls and young women who have or are intending to travel to Syria to link up with Isis. 
 
 Although Walton declined to estimate how many British girls and woman have made the journey, counter-terrorism experts in the UK have put the figure at about 50. Many are believed to be based in Raqqa, the eastern Syrian city that has become an Isis stronghold. 
 
 Women and girls are thought to make up about 10% of those leaving Europe, North America and Australia to link up with jihadi groups. 
 
 Walton said: “It is an extremely dangerous place and we have seen reports of what life is like for them and how restricted their lives become. It is not uncommon for girls or women to be prevented from being allowed out of their houses or if allowed out, only when accompanied by a guardian. 
 
 
 
 “The choice of returning home from Syria is often taken away from those under the control of Islamic State, leaving their families in the UK devastated and with very few options to secure their safe return. 
 
 “If we are able to locate these girls whilst they are still in Turkey we have a good possibility of being able to bring them home to their families. Anyone with any information about where they are should call the incident room via the freephone anti-terrorist hotline number on 0800 789 321.”
– Three London teens on their winter break are believed to have skipped town and headed to Syria to join up with ISIS, British police said today, per the BBC. Shamima Begum, 15, and two classmates—Kadiza Sultana, 16, and a 15-year-old friend whose parents asked for anonymity—reportedly got on a plane at Gatwick Airport on Tuesday and flew to Istanbul. They had given their families "plausible reasons" for disappearing for the day, police say, but Shamima and the other 15-year-old were reported missing by Tuesday night; Kadiza was called in on Wednesday morning. Their families are said to be "devastated," according to Richard Walton, head of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command unit, but they're hoping the girls may still be in Turkey and that they'll see social media pleas for them to return. "[Syria] is an extremely dangerous place, and we have seen reports of what life is like for them and how restricted their lives become," Walton said, per the Guardian. "The choice of returning home from Syria is often taken away from those under the control of [the] Islamic State, leaving their families in the UK … with very few options to secure their safe return." To assure the girls that it's their safety that's paramount, the Metropolitan Police also tweeted a statement from Walton today that said, "This is not about criminalizing people, this is about preventing tragedies," as well as listing a number to call for the girls or anyone who knows where they may be.