British doctors feared to have crossed into Syria to 'aid IS fighters'

Medical students and doctors were studying in Sudan prior to travelling to the troubled Arab state a week ago

At least nine British medical students and doctors are feared to have entered Syria ‘to aid the Islamic State (IS) fighters.

The medical students – all in their late teens or early twenties – were believed to have been studying in Sudan prior to travelling to the troubled Arab state more than seven days ago.

Worried relatives told the BBC that they had serious concerns about the well-being of the ‘brainwashed’ students and have gone to the extent of reaching the Turkish-Syrian border.

According to the BBC, a few students conveyed to their parents that they were involved in nothing more than voluntary activities for Syrians.

The father of one of the misled doctors, however, was positive that his daughter and other students were in the Turkish side of the border instead.

However, a British MP refuted the statement, saying the doctors would have been spotted if they were Turkey, more so if they were aspiring to serve a medical facility.

 



The students are believed to have traveled to Syria more than a week ago

The families' worst fear was that the students have become part of the extremists’ group in a Khartoum university but have not lost hope yet.

The medics were born and raised in England but were sent to Sudan to study as medical students and acquire an experience which was closer to ‘Islamic culture’.

Read: Turkey detains 'Syria-bound' British woman

British authorities told the BBC the medical students would not necessarily be prosecuted under anti-terror laws if they returned to the UK to prove they had not been associated with any sort of fighting.

Furthermore, a government official said: "UK law makes provisions to deal with different conflicts in different ways - fighting in a foreign war is not automatically an offence but will depend on the nature of the conflict and the individual's own activities."

The story was originally published in BBC