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The news emerged yesterday as Home Secretary Theresa May talked tough about the need to crack down on extremism.
Yusra, who is thought to have been exposed to jihadi propaganda on the internet, boarded a flight to Istanbul under the noses of police and border control officials at Heathrow.
She is believed to be with a 17-year-old girl from Lambeth, South London, whom she arranged to meet at the airport, and to have flown to Turkey in order to enter Syria, where Islamic State fighters control large areas.
Last night Yusra’s distraught family, who are of Somali descent, begged her: ‘Please come back. We miss you very much. You are not in any trouble. We just want you to be safe and to come home as soon as possible.’
The teenager has not been seen since 7am last Wednesday when she left home in the Easton area of Bristol. Her parents thought she was going to school, but she is believed to have taken a coach to Heathrow.
Her father Mohammed, a youth worker, only realised she was missing when he went to collect her from school that afternoon. He and his wife Safiya, a dinner lady, declined to comment further other than to confirm their daughter was missing. A woman who said she was Yusra’s aunt added: ‘We are all really confused.’
A family friend said the teenager, who wears a headscarf, had not asked for any money and her parents were unaware of any cash she could have used to pay for her flight – suggesting that whoever recruited her may also have bought her tickets. Afzal Shah, who spent time with the family at their home yesterday, said they had noticed Yusra use her phone and computer a lot recently.
‘The family have not been able to make contact with Yusra,’ he said. ‘The understanding I have is that the radicalisation is self-radicalisation as opposed to any institution. There are so many forums and chatrooms on the internet that it’s easy to be led astray. I don’t know how she got to that stage but she was radicalised at that stage.
‘It also begs the question how a 15-year-old child was allowed to board a flight like that.’
Mr Shah said police believe Yusra may already be in the east of Turkey near the border with Syria.
He added: ‘IS is a menace to the whole of society and have nothing to do with the Muslim faith. They’re violent and extortionist thugs. It’s absolutely tragic. The family had no clue.’ Anira Khokhar, speaking for the family, described Yusra as an ‘intelligent, beautiful young lady. The family have lost a daughter and that is the most important thing here,’ she said. ‘They are just a family whose daughter is somewhere they are unaware of and she is in danger.’
Another source close to Yusra’s family said they feared she had become brainwashed on the internet.
Up to 50 British girls and young women are feared to have gone to the Middle East to join the jihadis.
It is claimed that Yusra was introduced to the London-based radical – who is also from a Somalian family – by a third girl, who is now being sought in Bristol.
Last night Avon and Somerset Police refused to explain how Yusra would have been able to fly without her parents to Turkey – a popular transit point for would-be jihadis - at a time of heightened security.
Many of the British women who have gone to join IS are believed to be based at the group’s stronghold in Raqqa, eastern Syria.
Some are as young as 14 or 15, and travelling to marry jihadis, bear their children and join communities of militants. Twin sisters Zahra and Salma Halane, 16, left their Manchester home in July without their parents’ knowledge to follow their brother to Syria. Both are reportedly now married to IS fighters.
Experts say a small number of the women are taking up arms.
Some British women and girls have posted pictures of themselves carrying AK-47s, grenades and in one case a severed head.
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