[caption id="attachment_152767" align="alignright" width="199"] Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc[/caption]

Turkey has hit out at the UK for being "too late to inform" Turkish authorities about three British schoolgirls who left London for Istanbul apparently to join the ISIL militants in Syria.

Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15, left their homes in London on February 17 and boarded a flight for Istanbul while police suspect they planned to pass the Turkish territory on their way to join the ISIL terrorists in Syria.

A 20-year-old Glasgow woman, identified as Aqsa Mahmood, who went to Syria to marry an ISIL militant in 2013, is said to have had online contact with one of the girls.

Speaking to Turkish reporters late Monday, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said the British would be held accountable if the three teenage girls are not found.

"The search is ongoing. It would be great if we can find them. But if we can't, it is not us who will be responsible, but the British," he added.

Arinc said, "It is a condemnable act for Britain to let three girls ... come to Istanbul and then let us know three days later. They haven't taken the necessary measures.”

Turkey has repeatedly been accused by its Western allies of failing to do enough to stop the transfer of militants and their female companions across its territory on their way to Syria.

'Girls are in Syria'

Intelligence sources in Turkey have said the girls apparently reached the Turkish border on February 20 and crossed into the Syrian town of Tal Abyad that is under the ISIL control, the Daily Telegraph reported on Saturday.



“They were seen in Tal Abyad on Friday. They were traveling with a Syrian male in a private car. They were using Syrian identity cards,” an unnamed Turkish source told the newspaper.

The teenagers spent two days in Istanbul before going to the border, the source said, adding, “We understand that after arriving in Istanbul, the girls met an ISIL member who is charged with helping foreigners who want to join the group.”

Both Turkish Airlines and the UK Border Force failed to report that the three “grade A” pupils had traveled alone to the region.

The UK government says at least 600 British extremists have joined the ISIL, which controls parts of Iraq and Syria.

By Press TV