UK, Canadian, US students believed to have left Sudan to join IS

Khartoum

Twelve students including British, Canadian, Sudanese and US citizens are feared to have left Khartoum for Turkey to try to join the Islamic State group, their university said today.

Another group of British students of Sudanese origin from the same private University of Medical Sciences and Technology travelled to Turkey in March and it is believed they crossed into Syria.

"We confirmed reports from multiple parties that 12 medical students at the university left for Turkey on Friday," the dean for students Dr Ahmed Babikir told AFP.

Khartoum airport authorities confirmed the group had flown to Turkey and the students' families said they had not seen them since Friday and were unable to find their passports, Babikir added.

It was likely they were trying to reach Syria to join IS because they were still sitting their final exams and had not warned relatives they were leaving, he said.

"Logic says that they travelled to join the Daesh organisation," Babikir said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

Seven of the missing students are British, two Canadian, one American and two are Sudanese nationals, he said, although all are understood to be of Sudanese origin.

The British embassy in Khartoum confirmed that "seven British nationals have travelled to Turkey from Sudan".