The family of a British boy said they were "devastated and heartbroken" after ISIS apparently released a photo showing their 17-year-old relative smiling in front of an ISIS flag..
The family's heartache played out this weekend against the backdrop of two waves of car bombings in Iraq, notable for the role foreigners were said to have had in them.
His family described him as 'A loving and affable' boy
Asmal's relatives in West Yorkshire, England, were in shock after British media published the pictures of him.
In another shot, he's posing inside a black Toyota.
Asmal was a "loving, kind, caring and affable" and had no "ill will against anybody nor did he ever exhibit any violent, extreme or radical views of any kind," his family said in a lengthy statement Sunday.
It seems that ISIS targeted the teen and "exploited" his "tender years and naivety," they said, adding that the terror group apparently carried out a "process of deliberate and calculated grooming of him."
"As a result of this and completely unbeknown to us, his family, and entirely against our wishes, he ended up traveling it seems to Iraq," the family's statement reads.
On Sunday, the United Kingdom's North East Counter Terrorism Unit said that police are aware of media reports that allege a British national has died in Iraq. The identity of the person has not been confirmed, and the office unable to give further comment, it said.
"We are aware that large numbers of British nationals are traveling to the Middle East for a variety of reasons, and we understand that some of those traveling have resided in West Yorkshire," it said.
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