The United States has announced a reward of up to $5 million for information that leads to the location, recovery and return of two American siblings, Yusuf and Zahra Shikder, who were taken to Syria more than a decade ago.
According to a notice issued Wednesday by the State Department’s Rewards for Justice programme, the children were removed from the United States in 2015 by their mother, who travelled with them to Syria to join ISIS without their father’s consent. The notice describes the act as a kidnapping.
The children’s circumstances changed after their mother’s death in 2019. An ISIS figure identified as Khadra Essa, also known as Umm Qaqa al-Somali, then allegedly took custody of them. The State Department described Essa as an “ISIS key leader and sharia instructor.”
The U.S. government is seeking information that could help determine the siblings’ current whereabouts and facilitate their return. Anyone providing information that leads to their location, recovery and return could be eligible for a reward and relocation assistance. Tips can be submitted through secure communication channels designated by the programme.
Age-progressed photographs of Yusuf and Zahra have been released alongside the appeal to help identification years after their disappearance. The siblings were taken to Syria at a time when ISIS controlled significant territory in the country and Iraq.
The case is one of several involving foreign children who were brought into ISIS-held areas during the height of the group’s territorial expansion.
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