DENVER (AP) – One of three suburban Denver girls who authorities say tried to join Islamic State militants in Syria was confused about what her role would be if she had actually made it there, the girl’s father said Tuesday.
“She told me they were going to get there and somebody is going to contact them,” said the father of a 16-year-old Sudanese girl, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because he is concerned for the girls’ safety. “I ask her, ‘Who’s that person?’ She actually didn’t have a clear idea about what’s going on. They’re just like, you know, stupid little girls. They just want to do something, and they do it.”
The FBI says the 16-year-old and her friends, 15- and 17-year-old sisters of Somali descent, were headed toward Turkey en route to Syria when authorities stopped them on Oct. 20 at the Frankfurt, Germany airport. They sent them back to Denver, where FBI agents again interviewed them before releasing them to their parents without pressing charges.
They’re safe now, but the father said he is still troubled by lingering questions about their intentions, who recruited them online and how they were so easily able to board a plane and head overseas.
The FBI is focusing on what contacts they had in Syria, having searched the girls’ computers for clues.