Karen Nettleton, mother-in-law of terrorist Khaled Sharrouf, travels to Syria to try to locate missing grandchildren

THE mother-in-law of Islamic State terrorist Khaled Sharrouf has flown to the Middle East on a mission to try to find her grandchildren who are trapped in Syria. It is a journey swathed in doubt and sorrow for Karen Nettleton, whose daughter Tara died last year in the war-torn zone.

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THE mother-in-law of Islamic State terrorist Khaled Sharrouf has flown to the Middle East on a mission to try to find her grandchildren who are trapped in Syria.

Karen Nettleton and her solicitor Robert van Aalt flew to Abu Dhabi on Thursday night on their way to Turkey, where they will try to reach Syria by land and then ­attempt to locate the five children, who are believed to be in the IS-controlled city of Raqqa.

The pair were questioned by authorities before they left Sydney and Mr van Aalt had his phone and computer searched before they were ­allowed to travel.

Khaled Sharrouf posted this photo on Twitter of himself and sons in propaganda pose.

It is understood they had told the authorities of their plans, although the Australian Federal Police declined to comment.

It is also understood the pair has taken a film crew with them.

Ms Nettleton’s daughter Tara, 31, married Sharrouf when she was just 15 and followed the convicted terrorist to Syria in 2014, taking their five children with her.

She died last September from complications after an appendicitis operation, and it is not known whether Sharrouf is alive despite several unconfirmed reports of his death in the brutal fighting.

Sharrouf’s 15-year-old daughter Zaynab married fellow Aussie terrorist Mohamed Elomar, who was killed in a drone strike last year.

Karen Nettleton’s lost grandchildren (clockwise from top left) Zaynab, Hoda, Abdullah, Humzeh and Zaqawi.

Zaynab gave birth to a baby girl last September and is known to have changed her name to Umm Ayesha. She has also posted several social media messages mourning the deaths of both her husband and her father.

Experts have warned Ms Nettleton and Mr van Aalt that they could be on a suicide mission because they have so little information about the whereabouts of the children. The pair has also been warned that Islamic State butchers have been kidnapping and killing people on the Turkish side of the border with Syria.

When Ms Nettleton first asked the Abbott government last year for help in bringing the children back to Australia it provoked outrage around the country, especially after photographs had been circulated of them posing with guns and holding the severed heads of Syrian soldiers.

Ms Nettleton has not had any phone contact with the children, only text messages saying they were unable to leave the place they were staying because of air strikes.

It is understood she and Mr van Aalt may have contacted a Belgian firm with experience in rescuing people in the region. However they had been previously told that if there was any chance of helping them they would have to get themselves out of the war zone.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has previously said the federal government could not help repatriate the Sharrouf children.

“The children are the victims of their parents’ extremist ideology and reckless decision to travel to Syria,” she said in a statement last year after news broke of their mother’s death.

“Due to the extremely dangerous security situation there, the government has no capacity to provide consular assistance.”

At the time, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the government would have to consider if the children would be allowed back.

“The government’s clear objective is to keep the Australian public safe, and we’d have to look at the individual circumstances to see what the kids have been exposed to — whether or not later in life they’d pose a threat,” he said.