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Samra
Kesinovic © interpol.int
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A teenage girl who ran
away from her home in Austria to join Islamic State in Syria has been beaten to
death after trying to escape from the group, according to Austrian media. The
girl traveled to the war-torn nation with her friend last year.
Austrian
tabloid Kronen Zeitung reported that Samra Kesinovic, 17, was beaten to death
by members of the violent extremist group as she tried to flee the Islamic
State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) stronghold of Raqqa.
RT report continues:
The
newspaper cited an unnamed Tunisian woman who reportedly also traveled to join
the jihadists last year and lived with Kesinovic and her friend Sabina
Selimovic, then 15, in Raqqa. The Österreich tabloid reported the same story,
citing insider sources.
However,
Austria's interior and foreign ministries have yet to confirm the news.
"We
cannot comment on individual cases," Foreign Ministry spokesman Thomas
Schnöll told the Austria Press Agency. Interior Ministry spokesman Karl-Heinz
Grundböck also said that he could not comment on the situation.
Unconfirmed
reports of the girls' fate also circulated last year, with UN counter-terrorism
expert David Scharia stating that one had been killed in fighting and the other
had disappeared.
Kesinovic
and Selimovic arrived in Syria via Turkey in April 2014, and quickly became “poster
girls” for IS. Photos on social media sites showed them carrying Kalashnikovs
and being surrounded by armed men. According to Austrian police, the images
were aimed at recruiting young girls to join IS.
At
the time of their disappearance, the two teenagers left a note for their
families saying, "Don’t look for us. We will serve Allah and we will die
for him." The girls are believed to have been married off to IS fighters
soon after arriving in Raqqa. However, by October 2014, there were reports that
both girls wanted to return home.
Austrian
authorities have accused a Vienna-based Bosnian Muslim preacher, Mirsad Omerovic
(also known as Abu Tejda or Ebu Tejma) of recruiting the girls, who were born
in Austria to Bosnian Muslim parents. He has denied the allegations.
As many as 130 Austrians
have fled to Syria to join IS, according to UN estimates. At least half are
believed to be of Chechen origin.
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