Talha Asmal was a British teenager from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire who traveled with his neighbor [1] Hassan Munshi to Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in March 2015. [2] A few months later, in June, he became the youngest suicide bomber in British history. He was seventeen at the time of his death. [2] [3]
Talha Asmal and Hassan Munshi were nine months apart in age and lived next door to each other in a Muslim majority neighborhood, Savile Town. [1] Both of their families were of Gujarati origin. [4] Both worshipped at a nearby mosque which had been founded by Hassan's grandfather and which, like most of the mosques in the neighborhood, followed the Deobandi tradition. [1] [5] A neighbor of the family said Talha and Hassan would play football in the street together. [6]
Talha lived with his parents [6] and was studying for his A-levels [2] before he left England to join ISIL in 2015. His parents would later describe him as a "loving, kind, caring and affable" person who came from a "close-knit, hard-working, peace-loving and law-abiding British Muslim family". [2]
On March 31, 2015, Talha and Hassan took a flight to Turkey. They were both seventeen years old when they left. [2] In early April, the British media reported the boys were missing and feared to have traveled to Syria in to join ISIL. [2] [7] Both their families issued a statement, appealing for anyone with information to contact the police. They described their sons as "just two ordinary Yorkshire lads" with promising futures and said they were profoundly shocked and wanted them back home. [8]
In April 2015, an unidentified Dewsbury teenager was arrested on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts as part of a search in connection with Talma and Hassan's disappearances. The teenager was questioned and later bailed. [9]
Their trip to the Middle East in 2015 was not the first time Talha and Hassan had been exposed to terrorism. Hassan is the younger brother of Hammaad Munshi, who was arrested in 2006 at the age of sixteen, [9] [10] and accused, along with two men in their twenties, [10] [11] of participating in a terrorist plot to kill non-Muslims [2] including the Royal Family. [12] Hammaad was convicted of making a record of information likely to be used for terrorist purposes. [10]
At Hammaad's sentencing in a statement made on behalf of his family, his grandfather said, "This case demonstrates how a young, impressionable teenager can be groomed so easily through the internet to associate with those whose views run contrary to true Muslim beliefs and values." [11]
The judge sentenced eighteen-year-old Hammaad to two years in a young offenders institution, saying, "There is no doubt you knew what you were doing." He acknowledged, however, that the two older offenders "took advantage of your youthful naivety in order to indoctinate" Hassan. [11] [12] The two older offenders were sentenced to ten years and twelve years in prison. [13]
By the time Hassan left the United Kingdom with Talha, seven years had passed since his brother's sentencing. Hamaad was twenty-five years old, out of custody and living at home with his family. [1] Hassan was working as an apprentice. [2] Talha was studying at Mirfield Free Grammar and Sixth Form. His former principal described him as a "conscientious student" who did not draw attention to himself. [14]
In June 2015, Talha participated in a suicide attack in Iraq, [15] detonating a vehicle fitted with explosives. [3] [16] He was part of a team of suicide bombers who targeted forces near an oil refinery south of Baiji. At least eleven people were reported to have been killed in the attack. [16]
Social media posts and ISIS itself identified Talha as one of the bombers, using his nom de guerre Abu Yusuf Al-Bratani. The other three bombers were said to be a German, a Kuwaiti and a Palestinian. [15] ISIL published photos of Talha taken right before the attack, images which his parents identified. [6] In the images, Talha is shown smiling. Shahid Malik, who is a friend of the Asmal family, called the images "disturbing." [16]
When word of Talha's death reached his and the Munshi brothers' neighborhood in Dewsbury, many neighbors were grief-stricken. [5] Talha's family said they were "utterly devastated and heartbroken." His parents stated he was a "loving, kind, caring and affable" person who had never exhibited violent or extremist views. [3]
Talha's parents stated they believed their son had been groomed and exploited by jihadists, whom they said deliberately targeted him in his "tender years and naivety." They urged others who fear their relatives might be becoming radicalized to contact the authorities. [16] They suggested he may have been radicalized online. [10]
At the time of Talha's death, Hassan Munshi's whereabouts were unknown. [6] A neighbor in Dewsbury said he'd heard the two teenagers parted ways shortly after reaching ISIS in the Middle East. [6]