Turkey detains UK family suspected of joining ISIL

ANKARA

The Malik family. AA photo

A couple and their four children from England, who were allegedly trying to cross into Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), have been detained in Ankara, police officials have told Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency.
      
The family, who had entered Turkey via land from Greece on April 16, was detained in a hotel on April 20 by Ankara police in the industrial neighborhood of Ostim.

UK authorities had informed their Turkish counterparts on April 19 that Asif Malik, 33, his wife Sara Malik, 29, and their four children aged from one to seven years old, had entered Turkey and could be headed to Syria to join ISIL.
      
Turkish police said the family will be deported in the near future.
      
The family from Slough, Berkshire was last seen in the region on April 7 and reported missing to police on April 16, British police said.
      
Relatives were said to be "very concerned" about the family and speculated they had tried to enter Syria through Hungary and then Turkey.

Thousands of foreign fighters from all over the world are believed to have joined groups such as ISIL in Syria and Iraq.

Turkey, which shares an 800-kilometer-long border with Syria, has deported hundreds of suspects to date for allegedly trying to cross into Syria to join ISIL.