A COUSIN of a Bradford husband and wife feared to be travelling to Syria with their five children, aged 15 to five, criticised them for taking their children into a 'war zone'.

West Yorkshire Police are investigating the disappearance of the Ameen family, Imran, 39, Farzana, 40, and their children who have not been seen since they flew on a one-way ticket from Manchester to Antalya, Turkey, on October 6.

The five children are Isma Imran, 15, Moeen Imran, 14, Mohammed Muneeb Imran, 11, Ismail Imran, eight and Mohammed Imran, five.

Arshid Siddique, first cousin of both Imran and Farzana Ameen, who lives across the road from them in Birch Lane, West Bowling, said their families were sick with worry.

"I knew there was something not right here, then your worst fears are confirmed," he said.

"My worst fears are they are going to a war zone, not for them, they are adults, it's for the kids.

"I can't understand it. I have three kids of my own, it beggars belief any mother or father would want to take their children to a war zone for whatever reason."

Mr Siddique said about two weeks ago Farzana Ameen took her mother back to live in Pakistan where her brother lives, then returned to Bradford.

She then told extended family that her husband, who worked selling car parts online, had a job lined up in Dubai and they were leaving imminently but without giving a definite date.

Mr Siddique said the rest of the family said their goodbyes then the family disappeared overnight, with no contact to say they had arrived in Dubai or how they were settling in to their new life.

Mr Siddique said Farzana's brother in Pakistan is "heartbroken" and that he telephoned him to tell him what was happening.

When her brother rang Farzana, Mr Siddique said she told him: "I'm doing the best for my kids."

He said the family prayed five times each day but in his view neither adults were particularly religious. He described Imran as "quiet" before adding: "God only knows now, with the internet."

He said Farzana did not wear a face veil and had more English friends than Asian ones, however, he said their eldest girl, aged 15, was pulled out of school for home education.

He added: "We should have seen the signs. Even at that time there was something telling me something was not right. I never thought it was anything to do with what she has now done.

"I hope and pray for safe return, they will face the music but it is not about them, it's about the kids."

Police investigating the case are working on the assumption that the reason for the family's disappearance is that they could be travelling to Syria or Iraq to join Islamic State.

The family had removed all five children from their schools, Bradford Academy and St Matthews Primary School in West Bowling, before leaving the country.

Before their disappearance they gave "conflicting stories" to family and friends about where they were going.

West Yorkshire Assistant Chief Constable Russ Foster said it had now emerged that Imran's brother, Rehan Noor-Ul-Ameen, 30, had travelled to Turkey on July 29 and has not been seen since.

At a press conference yesterday he told reporters that the family, including Rehan, were not on any watch lists.

He said: "This is the first time the family has come to the notice of West Yorkshire Police. They weren't on our radar at all, we know very little about them. We want to know whether their have recently changed, or whether their behaviour has recently changed.

"We are keeping an open mind, but we haven't ruled out the possibility that the family may have travelled to Syria or Iraq. We are working with relatives in the UK and lines of inquiry are being progressed with the Turkish authorities.

"We know that Turkey is a well trodden path for people to get to Syria and parts of Iraq. We are operating under an assumption that they may have gone to Syria or Iraq, but we don't know for sure that this is the case. This is a missing from home inquiry at this time.

"Our main concern is the safeguarding of the five children.

"We want anyone with information about the family's whereabouts to come forward so we can facilitate their safe return to the UK."

Other family members in the UK were said to be "extremely concerned" about their welfare.

He said officers were working closely with Bradford Council's safeguarding officers and were looking to establish when the children were last in school.

ACC Foster added: "We do work with the Muslim community to educate people of the dangers and risks of travelling to Syria and Iraq, they are not the place for young children.

"From previous cases we have seen people travel to these areas for religious reasons or to join ISIS. These are hypotheses for us to consider in this case."

Officers were working to establish links with other family members in different countries, including Pakistan.

He added: "We also need to find out if anyone else has any intention of going abroad."

When asked ACC Foster said there did not appear to be any links between the family and the Dawood family, who went missing from Bradford in June.

Gareth Dawkins, head of Bradford Academy, said: "Some of the children concerned were previously on the roll of the academy.

"They were removed from the roll following a process defined and agreed with Bradford Council, and we are satisfied we adhered to that process in both letter and spirit."

Bob Curran, head teacher at St Matthew's Primary School, said: "As a school, we are obviously extremely concerned about the well-being of the children.

"Three of the children in the family previously attended our school and all three children were removed from the school roll on September 29 at the request of the parents.

"Safeguarding is always our key priority and in this case we had no reason whatsoever to believe that the children would be put at risk after they left our school roll. We are doing everything we can to help the police but as this is an ongoing police investigation we will be making no further statement.”

A Bradford Council spokesman added: "The family had elected to home-school their secondary school-age children and they were being monitored in the usual way.

"For the primary school children, the family informed the school that they were leaving the area and took the children off the school roll. In both cases there was no reason to believe that the children were at risk."

Anyone with information about the family’s whereabouts is urged to call West Yorkshire Police on 101.