Families plead for ‘IS girls’ to return

Relatives of three missing British schoolgirls believed to have fled to Syria to join Islamic State have pleaded for them to return home.

Police are urgently trying to trace Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year-old Amira Abase after they flew to Istanbul in Turkey from Gatwick Airport on Tuesday.

The girls, who are all from east London, are pupils at Bethnal Green Academy school and have been described as “straight A students”.