Eleven medical students missing, feared to have joined IS.

Eleven medical students missing, feared to have joined IS.(BI).

A group of British medical students of Sudanese origin who went missing after travelling to Turkey are feared to have crossed into Syria to join the Islamic State (IS) group as doctors, reports and sources said on Sunday.

The families of the students have travelled to the Turkey-Syria border in a desperate appeal for them to return home before it is too late, a Turkish opposition MP said.

According to reports in Britain's Guardian newspaper and the BBC, the nine young British medical students flew to Istanbul from the Sudanese capital Khartoum on March 12 and then overland towards Syria.

They have been joined by two other medics from the United States and Canada, also of Sudanese origin, the BBC said.

It is believed they are working in a hospital in Tel Abyad, which lies in the governorate of Raqqa - the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s (Isil) de facto capital.

Mehmet Ali Edibogl, a Turkish opposition politician told The Observer: “These kids were born and raised in England, but they were sent to Sudan to study at medical school,” “I’ve asked the families why they sent their children to study there (Sudan), and as I understood it, they wanted them to experience a more Islamic culture and not to forget their roots.

“They have been cheated, brainwashed. That is what I, and their relatives, think.” Ahmed Babikir, students' dean at Khartoum's private University of Medical Sciences told AFP five students university were missing after travelling to Turkey.

"They all have British passports and are of Sudanese origin," he said.

"Their families have travelled after them to stop them from joining IS. We are not able to confirm they have crossed into Syria".

The group, who are all in their early 20s, had all moved to the Sudanese capital of Khartoum to study medicine several years ago, having grown up in the UK.Three had already graduated while the others were still studying.

Hmmm......What if any were their 'specialities'? Would they know how to implant bombs? Read the full story here.