Glasgow girl Aqsa Mahmood ‘wanted to be martyr’

THE Scottish woman who travelled to Syria and married an Islamic State (IS) fighter told her parents she wanted to become a martyr and would see them again on the “day of judgement”.

Aqsa Mahmood, 20, left, pictured at a family wedding. Picture: PA

Aqsa Mahmood left her family home in Glasgow last November and called her parents from the Turkish border before entering Syria to tell them of her intentions to join the radical movement.

Speaking publicly for the first time, her parents Muzaffar and Khalida Mahmood have told of their heartbreak at hearing she did not intend to return home.

Speaking to American broadcaster CNN, Mr Mahmood wept as he recalled his daughter’s words.

“One message was that ‘I will see you on the day of judgement. I will take you to heaven, I will hold your hand’. That’s what she said. ‘I want to become a martyr.’”

In an emotional television appeal, following a statement released in the UK earlier this week, Mrs Mahmood pleaded with her daughter to come back.

“Aqsa - my dear daughter please come back, I’m missing you so much. Your brothers and sisters miss you a lot. My dearest daughter, in the name of Allah, please come home. I love you.”

The privately-educated 20-year-old is reported to have encouraged terrorist acts via a Twitter account under the name Umm Layth. The account has since been deleted.

She travelled through Turkey to Aleppo in Syria last year and was reported missing to police.

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