Missing London family believed to be travelling to Syria

A mother and her four children, who were all reported missing, are believed to be travelling to Syria, local police said on Saturday.

Zahera Tariq, 33, was last seen at her home address in Walthamstow, London on Tuesday morning and is now believed to have left the country later that day via London City Airport with her four children, Metropolitan Police said, Xinhua reported.

They flew to Amsterdam and there had been no information about their whereabouts since then.

The four children, including three sons and a daughter, were aged between four and 12.

Police said a family member reported their going missing to the police on Wednesday. "After further enquiries officers and family members are concerned that Zahera may be considering travelling to Syria with her children," police said.

"We're concerned about Zahera and her four children and we're doing all we can to work with our partners and colleagues both here and abroad to try and locate them and make sure they are all safe and well," said Commander Richard Walton, from the Met's Counter Terrorism Command.

"Whilst we do have some concerns that Zahera may be thinking of travelling to Syria, there is no current information to suggest that she's already travelled there... We would urge anybody with information to contact us as soon as possible," he added.