Canadian UK, US students suspected to leave Sudan to join ISIS

Khartoum, 29 June : Twelve medical students studying in Khartoum’s private University of Medical Sciences and Technology, have reportedly left Sudan’s national capital to reach Turkey in a bid to join the Islamic State. Nine among them are believed to be nationals from United Kingdom, United States and Canada. Out of them, three are learnt to be women.The students although possessing Western identities, are reported to be of Sudanese origin. Dr Ahmed Babikir, the dean of University has confirmed the students of been absconding and fears they might have left to join (Islamic State) ISIS. “We confirmed reports from multiple parties that 12 medical students at the university left for Turkey on Friday,” AFP quoted Babikir as saying. According to Babikir, every circumstantial evidence points in the same direction, indicating the students to have left Sudan to join the notorious Islamic extremist group. “Logic says that they traveled to join the Daesh organization,” he added, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL. It was likely they were trying to reach Syria to join IS because they were still sitting their final exams and had not warned relatives they were leaving, he said. Meanwhile, authorities at Khartoum Airport confirmed the group had traveled to Turkey while their families stated that they had not seen them since Friday and could not locate their passports. Recalling a similar incident in the recent past, Bakibir said, “Nine British students from the University of Medical Sciences and Technology were reported to have flown from Khartoum to Turkey to join the IS group in March. Their families traveled to the Turkey-Syria border to try to trace them, but there has been no confirmation of the whereabouts of the nine since then”.Of the 12 absconding students, seven are reported to be British, two from Canada, one each from US and UK, while the remaining two are Sudanese nationals.
Dean of University, Bakibir, has refrained from publicly identifying any of them. The Islamic extremist group, ISIS has maintained a strong grip over parts of Iraq and Syria. The captured area is referred as Islamic State by the terrorist organization. Through their strong online propaganda, ISIS has able to target Muslims form all around the globe to migrate in the conflicted area and indulge in ‘jihad’ to spread the territory of the so-called ‘Islamic State’.