US, Europe weep over loss of teens to ISIS

Western countries have raised concerns over the rate at which young people are being radicalised, and joining jihadist groups.

This is even as Australian authorities Sunday said it stopped two teenage brothers at Sydney Airport believed to be heading to the Middle East to fight.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the two boys, aged 16 and 17 and from Sydney, had tickets to an undisclosed Middle Eastern country and raised the suspicions of customs officers on Friday night.

The case came as the families of three British schoolgirls who left their London homes to join Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria in February criticised authorities for not warning them their children risked being radicalised.

“These two young men… are kids, not killers, and they shouldn’t be allowed to go to a foreign land to fight and to come back to our shores eventually more radicalised,” Dutton told reporters.

“In some cases, these young people who are going off to fight in areas like Syria will be killed themselves and that’s a tragedy for their families, for their communities, and for our country.”

He said the two youths “had taken a very radical decision ultimately without the knowledge of their parents”.

“Their parents, as I understand it, were as shocked as any of us would be.”

About 100 Australians were fighting with IS and other terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq, with another 150 supporting them at home, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said last week.

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