The Dean of Student Affairs at the University of Medical Sciences and Technology in Karthoum, Sudan has confirmed that as many as 22 British doctors, pharmacists and dentists have travelled to Syria.

A total of 27 UMST students and graduates have left for Syria and are believed to have joined Isis, 22 of whom are British citizens or residents. From March 2015, the students secretly left in waves to enter Syria through Turkey. The Dean of Student Affairs also said that six UMST students have since been killed, of whom four or five have British connections.

The students and alumni are mainly of British-Sudanese origin and were enrolled at the privately run university in Karthoum, whose qualifications are recognised by UK medical authorities. They are thought to be working in hospitals in Iraq and Syria and are allegedly the biggest cohort of friends from the West to have been recruited by Isis.

Investigation on social media by The Sunday Times has also revealed that some students are connected on Facebook with Suhaib Majeed, a British man jailed last April for plotting terror attacks along with another former UMST student Tarik Hussein.

Arran Turner

(Image: The African Eye)