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British Family, Feared Headed for Syria, Detained in Turkey: Counterterror Officials

Scotland Yard had appealed for the public’s help in finding Zahera Tariq, 33, and her children, ages 4 to 12.
Tariq family missing
Zahera Tariq, 33, appears with her four children at London City Airport on Aug. 25 in this image from a security video.London Metropolitan Police via AP

A woman and her four children who disappeared from London and were feared to be headed for Syria have been detained in Turkey, counterterrorism authorities said Tuesday.

Scotland Yard had appealed for the public’s help in finding Zahera Tariq, 33, and her children, ages 4 to 12.

Tariq family missing
Zahera Tariq, 33, appears with her four children at London City Airport on Aug. 25 in this image from a security video.London Metropolitan Police via AP

British authorities said earlier this year that at least 700 people have traveled from Britain to support jihadist organizations in Syria and Iraq, most of them to help ISIS, and that about half had returned.

Scotland Yard did not give details of the family’s circumstances beyond citing “very real concerns” that they might have been planning to go to Syria.