London - Arab Today
Three missing schoolgirls who left Britain to join Daesh have crossed into Syria and are believed to be staying at a house in al Raqqa, Sky sources say.
Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15, boarded a flight from Gatwick Airport bound for Istanbul last month.
Authorities feared the teenagers, who attended Bethnal Green Academy in east London, were seeking to join Daesh militants.
Sky's Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay said: "We're being told tonight that they've crossed into Syria through a crossing... which is not too far from Kilis.
"They're now apparently in a house that is owned or controlled - or at least hosted by - a British girl who had been in contact with them through the internet, and had brought them through Turkey and into Syria.
"We are told by... good sources within the city of al Raqqa that they are there, that they are safe.
"That is where they are staying - with this British girl who is hosting them.
"There's been a lot of discussion about where they are, (and) how they got there. But we are told they are now inside Syria, they are inside al Raqqa, and they are under the control of Daesh."
Last week CCTV footage emerged which appeared to show the three teenagers at a bus station in Istanbul.
The girls were seen wrapped in heavy winter jackets, two with hoods pulled up, and carrying packed sports bags and holdalls.
The footage was recorded in the early hours of 18 February, less than 24 hours after the trio left their London homes, telling their families they would be out for the day.
The Metropolitan Police earlier disclosed that the three girls were questioned by officers in December as part of a "routine inquiry".
None of the three was subsequently monitored by counter-terrorism police, according to The Times.
It was only when their families raised the alarm that authorities discovered the girls had fled the country.
Sky News uncovered a tweet sent from Shamima Begum's Twitter account two days earlier, asking a friend already in Syria to follow her so they can start messaging privately.
The friend is understood to be a former private school pupil from Glasgow who travelled to Syria to marry a fighter.
Source: MENA