Islamic State families in Syria book plane tickets home to Australia
The group are part of a large Islamic State outpost of 34 believed to be the wives, widows and children of fighters
A group of 13 women and children with links to the Islamic State (IS) have booked flights home to Australia, despite government attempts to block their return.
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Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Bure said it "has not and will not provide" support to the four women and nine children who spent years in a Syrian IS camp.
The group are part of a large outpost of 34 believed to be the wives, widows and children of IS fighters.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Krissy Barrett said when the group arrive in Australia "some individuals will be arrested and charged".
"These are people who have made the horrific choice to join a dangerous terrorist organisation and to place their children in an unspeakable situation," Mr Burke said on Wednesday.
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"As we have said many times - any members of this cohort who have committed crimes can expect to face the full force of the law."
Mr Burke said authorities were made aware of their return when airline tickets were booked hours earlier.
"The alert is received the moment the booking takes place so that was provided to us this morning," he said.
However, the minister conceded that there were "very serious limits" on what the government can do to stop a citizen returning home.
A larger group left the same camp in February and came back for "technical reasons". The Australian government refused to repatriate them.
The government said it has been preparing for the group's return since 2014 with "long-standing plans" to "manage and monitor them".
Ms Barrett said that investigators had been collecting evidence for more than a decade on if the group committed "terrorism offences" or "crimes against humanity offences such as engaging in slave trading".
The Commissioner did not say how many of the returning 13 would be arrested on re-entry, but those not arrested would continue to be investigated.
The children who came home would "undergo community integration programs, therapeutic support and countering violent extremism programs".
The head of Australia's spy agency, Mike Burgess, said he was not "concerned immediately" by the group's return.
"It's up to them what they do when they get here, and if they start to exhibit signs that concern us, we and the police, through the joint counter-terrorism teams, will take action," Mr Burgess said.
In the camp's cohort of 34, it is believed that 23 are children.
They have been living in the al-Roj camp in northern Syria since 2019, when IS was driven from central Syria.
The UK, alongside France and the Netherlands, also refuse to repatriate most of their citizens still held in Syria.