BERLIN (AP) – Austria is preparing to repatriate two sons of an Austrian Islamic State group supporter believed to have died in Syria after she headed there in 2014.
Foreign ministry spokesman Peter Guschelbauer told public broadcaster ORF’s Oe1 radio Saturday that “there is a positive DNA test and so the children are clearly identified.” He said there has also been an Austrian court decision on custody “and so the conditions for repatriation are fulfilled.”
ORF reported that a court last week awarded custody to the grandparents of the boys, who are 1 ½ and 3. It said they have been at the al-Hol camp in Syria, controlled by Kurdish forces, for the past few months.
Four German children fathered by IS militants were handed over to Germany by Syria’s Kurdish-led administration Monday.