A teenage girl, from Austria, who ran to Syria and joined ISIS along with her friend, is believed to have been beaten to death after being caught trying to flee the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa.
Samra Kesinovic, 17, and her friend Sabina Selimovic were made into the poster girls for ISIS after they first arrived in Syria in April 2014, and were a powerful recruitment tool for jihadists.
The pair appeared in a number of pictures on social media showing them surrounded by Jihadists wielding Kalashnikov’s. They’re believed to have married Islamic State fighters soon after arriving.
However a number of Austrian newspapers are quoting a Tunisian woman, who claims to have lived with the girls who says that Samra was been beaten to death for attempting to leave Raqqa. Although official sources have refused to comment or confirm her death.
Earlier this year, a United Nations official said that they believed that Sabina had been killed in fighting in Syria but they’d lost track of Samra, until the rumours of her death began.
Both girls are thought to have been radicalised by an Islamic preacher from Bosnia living in Vienna, known by the Islamic name of Ebu Tejma. Authorities say he brainwashed them into joining the jihad although he denies this.
It’s estimated that as many as 130 people from Austria are now fighting as jihadists abroad. Experts say at least half of them originally come from the Caucasus region of Russia and were granted asylum in Austria after the bloody Chechen war.
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.