An “ordinary” 17-year-old boy from Yorkshire has become Britain's youngest suicide bomber, partaking in a suicide attack, killing 11 Iraqis in Baiji, northern Iraq.
Talha Asmal, from Dewsbury is claimed to have been a regular 17-year-old lad before he was brainwashed by Islamist terrorists.
Talha Asml's family members described him as a loving and amiable teenager. His father, Ebrahim (42) said,
“He [Talha Asmal] never harboured any ill-will against anybody nor did he ever exhibit any violent, extreme or radical views of any kind. Talha’s tender years and naivety were it seems, however, exploited by persons unknown who- hiding behind the anonymity of the world wide web- targeted and befriended Talha and engaged in a process of deliberate and calculated grooming of him. As a result of this and completely unbeknown to us, his family and entirely against our wishes he ended up travelling it seems to Iraq.”
It is said that Asmal had boarded a flight to Syria via Turkey in April, with his neighbour and best friend, Hassan Munshi, the brother of Britain's youngest convicted terrorist, Hammas Munshi.
The terrorist group, Isis, had posted photographs of Talha Asmal preparing for the suicide bomb attack on the social networking site, Twitter.
Shahid Malik, the former MP for Dewsbury is a friend of the Asmal family. He said, “The local community grieves with them today, Ebrahim and the family’s world has been shattered in the cruellest of ways and one which no family should ever have to experience. Talha was a truly sweet-natured, helpful, respectful and friendly kid, and it is incredibly difficult to reconcile this Talha with the suicide bomber at an Iraqi oil installation.”
