Mother ‘heads for Syria’ with her four children

He announced his arrival in Syria by posting a photograph on social media clutching his newborn son in one hand and an assault rifle in the other.

Dhar, 32, has worked his way up the ranks of Isis and lives in Raqqa, the de facto capital of the terrorist group’s self-declared caliphate.

He has been using Twitter to urge other Britons to join him.

Tariq, who is described by neighbours as “very religious”, was last seen at her two-storey housing association home in Walthamstow, east London, last Tuesday.

Yesterday, counterterrorist police at Scotland Yard released CCTV images of Tariq and her children at London City airport as they prepared to board a flight to Amsterdam.

Tariq can be seen pushing a trolley with four large items of luggage. Each of her children, Muhammad, 12, Amaar, 11, Safiyyah, 9, and Aadid, 4, is carrying a rucksack.

Police refused to disclose whether the family had caught a connecting flight from Holland to Turkey, which borders Syria, but said they were “liaising with international partners” as part of their search.

“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, of the Metropolitan police’s counterterrorism command.

“While we do have some concerns that Zahera may be thinking of travelling to Syria, there is no current information to suggest that she has already travelled there.

“Her family are extremely worried about her and her three sons and daughter, and we would urge anybody with information to contact us as soon as possible.”

Tariq’s husband, Yasair Mahmmood, 42, reported her missing last Wednesday. He was not at the family home this weekend. His wife’s mobile phone went straight to voicemail when called.

Neighbours expressed shock at the family’s disappearance and said the children had been seen playing football outside their home during the school summer holidays.

Khalil Muhammadi, who has lived opposite Tariq for more than a decade, said: “The three boys and the girl were very chatty, very nice, smiley faces. It’s shocking news.”

He said the children attended a local Koranic school. Although Tariq is seen in the airport CCTV footage wearing a hijab, or headscarf, which leaves her face exposed, Muhammadi said she sometimes wore a more conservative niqab, which covers everything except the eyes.

A source close to Dhar claimed his wife, Aisha, was “hardline” in her views and was very close to Tariq, her older sister. Nobody answered the door yesterday at the sisters’ former home, which is also in Walthamstow.

A number of British families have travelled to Syria to join Isis, including a family of 12 from Luton, Bedfordshire, and three sisters from Bradford, West Yorkshire, with their nine children.

Isis has worked hard to lure families from Europe — even promising them free fridges and washing machines, and offering to pay fighters more for each extra child they bring.

Choudary, 48, who has lived in Walthamstow for several years, was recently charged with “inviting support” for Isis. He is due to go on trial in January.

Dhar took to Twitter last month to taunt the West. In a post on July 16 to mark the end of Ramadan, he wrote: “May Allah expand the kingdom of the mighty Islamic State and humiliate the oppressors and tyrants across the world.”