Parents of UK’s youngest suicide bomber blame Deash ‘cowards’

LONDON: The parents of Britain’s youngest suspected suicide bomber, described on Monday as a “typical teenager”, have accused Daesh leaders of being “too cowardly to do their own dirty work”.

Talha Asmal is believed to have travelled to Syria in April with friend Hassan Munshi, also 17, and Daesh announced on Saturday that he was the driver of one of four explosive-ladened vehicles used in an attack on an oil refinery in northern Iraq.

Parents Ebrahim, 42, and Noorjaha, 38, said the group had preyed upon his “innocence and vulnerability”.

“It appears that Talha fell under the spell of individuals who continued to prey on his innocence and vulnerability to the point where if the press reports are accurate he was ordered to his death by so-called ISIS [Daesh] handlers and leaders too cowardly to do their own dirty work,” they said in a statement.

“We are all naturally utterly devastated and heart-broken by the unspeakable tragedy that appears to have befallen us.”

Asmal was taking his final school exams, but is believed to have boarded a flight from Manchester to Dalaman in southwest Turkey on March 31.

“Talha comes from a close-knit, hardworking, peace-loving and law-abiding British Muslim family,” the statement read. “The entire family unreservedly condemns and abhors all acts of violence.”

His family said he and a close friend had been recruited online and left Dewsbury in northern England in March to link up with the extremists.

They said his naive nature was exploited by unidentified people. The family said Deash commanders who ordered him to conduct a suicide attack were “too cowardly to do their own ‘dirty’ work”.

Police said on Monday they cannot confirm the boy’s death, which was reported by a website associated with Daesh.

The website said Asmal detonated a vehicle laden with explosives in a suicide bombing on Saturday. It carried photographs believed to show him before the attack.

It was claimed that Asmal’s attack was one of seven carried out in the city of Beiji. Details are sketchy, but Daesh claimed the attacks led to “tens” of deaths and injuries.

Asmal is given the nom de guerre Abu Yousuf Al Britani on the website. Police say the family is convinced their son is the teen in the photograph.

Shahid Malik, a family friend and former legislator, said it is “disturbing” to see how relaxed Asmal appears to be in the photographs taken just before his suicide mission.

“He looks at peace,” Malik said. “It’s like he’s ready to go and meet his maker. This is a clear indication of just how successful the evil [Daesh] groomers have been in poisoning and brainwashing Talha and kids like him.”

British officials say roughly 700 Britons have travelled to Syria and Iraq in support of extremists there.