DHAKA: UK counter-terrorism chiefs say 43 UK women and girls are believed to have traveled to Syria in the past year.

The Metropolitan Police figures are the first official count of British women thought to be in the warzone.

Security officials believe up to 700 people have gone to Syria to become involved in jihadist groups and about half have returned.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball said women who traveled might never be able to return home.

Women who travel to Syria for jihadist reasons cannot get involved directly in fighting. They are regularly married off to fighters.

There have been a string of high-profile appeals by police in relation to the suspected travel of women to Syria - the most recent relating to the disappearance of an extended family of 12 from Luton in Bedfordshire.

Last month, three sisters from Bradford left the city, taking their nine children with them, reports the BBC.

BDST: 1818 HRS, JULY 14, 2015
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