UK woman begs father to get her back home after joining ISIS

A British woman who went to Syria with her young son and then escaped from the Islamic State of Iraqi and Syria (ISIS) occupied territory has told her father she wants to return home.

In October last year, 25-year-old Tareena Shakil left the UK – with her 17-month-old son - for the ISIS de-facto capital of Raqqa, telling relatives she was going on holiday to Spain, UK-based tabloid The Sun reported on Sunday.

Shakil, who is a psychology graduate, told The Sun that she originally decided to go and live in ISIS-held territory after marital problems with her husband, and for the opportunity to raise her child in a better community.

Yet life in Raqqa was not as she had hoped.

“Life is so hard there,” Shakil said. “There’s no hot water, no electricity for hours on end, none of the comforts we are used to in Britain.”

Additionally, airstrikes against the group made her feel threatened for her life.

“One night there were 30 bombs. The next morning I went out and there were body parts and blood everywhere. It was horrific.”

And after militants attempted to get her to marry a one-legged fighter, she escaped back over the border to Turkey – dodging ISIS checkpoints along the way.

Shakil and her son and are held in a Turkish detention center. During a reunion with her father Mohammed on Sunday, she asked him: “Take me home, Dad — please take me home. Get me out of here.”