(Image source from: The News Minute (Image for representative purpose only))

The wife and four children of a man from India, who reportedly joined the ISIS terror network and was killed in an airstrike in 2018 are struck in Syria and wish to return to their place of birth.

The family, originally from Hyderabad, were rescued by the United Nations and are now lodged at a refugee camp operated by the UN in the war-torn country, according to a source close to the family.

The 34-year-old man and his 32-year-old wife, as well as their two children allegedly left for Syria in 2015 to become citizens of the country. The couple had two more children who were born in Syria.

In 2018, the man was killed in an alleged airstrike and since then "attempts are being made to bring her and the children back to India by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Indian consulate in Syria," the source, who did not wish to be named was quoted as saying by The News Minute.

The couple, who are also cousins, had been settled in for several years when in 2015, the woman and her two children were allegedly taken to Syria by her husband on the pretext of taking a holiday. They allegedly first traveled to Dubai, then Turkey and finally to Syria.

"The woman did not have a clue that she and her two kids were being taken to Syria to join ISIS. Her husband sent an email to his brother informing them that he had moved the family to Syria and had joined ISIS," a source told The News Minute.

For a few months the menage back in Hyderabad were clueless about the family. The family had been told in the beginning that the woman and her children had perished in the airstrike as well.

"The woman managed to reach out to her family in Hyderabad with the help of the UN through a WhatsApp call. She confirmed that only her husband was killed. The NIA has advised the family not to talk to media," according to the source. "He lied about taking them on a family tour. This woman did not know until she landed there. We do not know which city she was in. She was cheated and trapped," the source said.

The Indian embassy is in the process of tracing the women and her four children. "There are a few other families from Hyderabad similarly stuck in Syria," the source added.

By Sowmya Sangam