Talha Asmal, seen as a schoolboy, celebrates the end of his GCSEs. He is reported to have been killed after detonating a car packed with explosives in Iraq

Pictured on his last day of secondary school less than two years ago, this is the 17-year-old boy who has become Britain's youngest suicide bomber.

A happy schoolboy, Talha Asmal is seen with good luck messages scrawled on his shirt and a school tie worn loosely around his neck as he celebrates the end of his GCSEs with friends.

The photograph is thought to have been taken on Talha's last day at Westborough High School, in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

The 'sweet natured, friendly kid' was reportedly killed after detonating a car packed with explosives as part of an Islamic State attack in Iraq after being groomed online by ISIS fanatics.

Talha's distraught family said last night that jihadis used the internet to exploit the A-level student's naivety in a process of 'deliberate and calculated grooming'.

The A-level student had gone on to study ICT and business at Mirfield Free Grammar School whose headmistress, Lorraine Barker, previously described him as quiet and hard working.

Had he taken a different path and not fled to the Middle East in the Easter holidays, he would have been waiting to hear back on whether he had successfully got into university, which he had applied for.

Images released by the ISIS terrorists last night show Talha smiling and taking orders as he stands beside a Toyota SUV alongside other fighters before their convoy attacked an oil refinery, killing 11.

Officials have yet to confirm whether Talha was one of the people killed in the bombings but his family said pictures of a fighter – using his jihadi name of Abu Yusuf al-Britani – showed their son.

Talha lived at the family's terraced home yards from the local mosque with his mother Noorjaha, 38, and father Ibrahim, 42.

But in April he entered Syria after fleeing on a Thomas Cook flight with his next-door neighbour and best friend Hassan Munshi, the brother of Britain's youngest convicted terrorist.

Hundreds of young British Muslims are thought to have fled their families over the last year to join IS, prompting fears about escalating home-grown terrorism in the UK.

In a damning statement, the family revealed how Talha had been radicalised after falling 'under the spell of individuals who preyed on his innocence and vulnerability'.

They accused the terrorist group of using the young Briton to carry out the attack as its leadership is 'too cowardly to do their own dirty work'.

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Talha, 17, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, said last night that jihadis used the internet to exploit the A-level student's naivety

Last hug: This is Talha Asmal hugging a friend moments before he was reportedly killed after detonating a car packed with explosives as part of an Islamic State attack in Iraq

Today women wearing burkas, possibly family members, were seen leaving their home (pictured) in Dewsbury

The statement said: 'Talha comes from a close knit, hard working, peace loving and law abiding British Muslim family.

'Talha himself was a loving, kind, caring and affable teenager. He never harboured any ill will against anybody nor did he ever exhibit any violent, extreme or radical views of any kind.

'We are all naturally utterly devastated and heartbroken by the unspeakable tragedy that now appears to have befallen us.'

The family, from a predominantly Asian area of Dewsbury, said the ISIS cause was not supported by the Muslim community.

They said: 'The entire family unreservedly condemns and abhors all acts of violence wherever perpetrated.

'As a family we would like to take this opportunity to unequivocally state that 'ISIS' are not Islam. They do not represent in any way, shape or form Islam and Muslims and we are no longer prepared to allow a barbaric group like 'ISIS' to hijack our faith.'

The terrorist group claimed that a German, Palestinian and Kuwaiti were among the group of suicide bombers that targeted the oil refinery in Iraq's Salahuddin province.

The 17-year-old was reportedly part of a team who killed 11 after blowing themselves up near an oil refinery

Officials have yet to confirm whether Talha, pictured right, was one of 11 people killed in the bombings but his family said pictures of a fighter – using his jihadi name of Abu Yusuf al-Britani – showed their son

Talha Asmal has become Britain's youngest suicide bomber after being groomed online by ISIS fanatics

Asmal (left) was believed to be one of four militants shown taking instruction before carrying out the mission

Gone: Talha entered Syria after fleeing on a Thomas Cook flight with best friend Hassan Munshi

Talha is believed to have told his family he would be away for a few days on a college trip, but they became concerned when they could not contact him and police were called.

His Facebook page show he 'liked' pages including Body Building and Fitness, The LAD Bible and The Stoner's Cookbook.

Former Labour MP for Dewsbury Shahid Malik, a friend of the family, said: 'Talha was a truly sweet natured, helpful, respectful and friendly kid. It is incredibly difficult to reconcile this Talha with the suicide bomber at an Iraqi oil installation.

Mr Malik said the family were 'very humble family, very happy family, very loving family and a family who today have had their world shattered beyond comprehension. They are devastated beyond words.'

He said: 'It is disturbing to see how relaxed he looks in the ISIS photographs allegedly taken just prior to his suicide mission.

'He looks at peace. It's like he's ready to go and meet his maker. This is a clear indication of just how successful the evil ISIS groomers have been in poisoning and brainwashing Talha and kids like him.'

'Every mosque should be making clear what is acceptable and unacceptable in Islam. To me the tragedy is that the vast majority are not speaking in those terms. The counter narrative (against extremists) has to be Muslim led, it has to come from the Muslim community themselves.'

One final image shows the cars in which the militants later died in driving off into the distance in Iraq

Other images shared online by ISIS supporters appear to show one of the blasts near the oil refinery

The whereabouts of Hassan Munshi are unknown. His brother Hammaad was 15 when he was arrested in 2006 and found to have a guide to making napalm. He was jailed for two years in 2008 for being part of an Al Qaeda cell.

Previously, Britain's youngest known suicide bomber was Hasib Hussein, also from West Yorkshire, who was 18 when he detonated a bomb he was carrying during the 7/7 attacks in London in 2005.

In recent years Dewsbury has gained notoriety as a hotbed for Muslim extremism. Mohammad Sidique Khan, the 7/7 ringleader, orchestrated the attack from his home in the town.

Qari Asim, imam at the Makkah Mosque in Leeds, told the BBC that the recruitment was mainly taking place online, adding: 'The perpetrators are pretty much acting like paedophiles, they groom these young individuals over time - radicalisation isn't an overnight process.

'They prey on these vulnerable young people and brainwash them, and religion is a unique passion so they tend to use religion to brainwash these young individuals for their own political aims and gains.

'And mosques, imams, have been very clear and vocal on such issues - that suicide bombing is not allowed in Islam. Suicide bombing is unlawful in Islam because it results in one taking his own life, and also bringing terror and harm on others.'

He also highlighted that the main issue was that those being radicalised had no religious grounding, and were drawn to extremism by a 'deluded gang of criminals' who billed it as a 'utopian dream'.

How former mill town Dewsbury in West Yorkshire is linked to more than a dozen Islamist extremists and terrorists including Britain's youngest suicide bomber

Set in a quiet corner of West Yorkshire, on first glance the former mill town of Dewsbury looks perfectly innocent.

But bubbling away under the surface of the thriving community is a deep-rooted problem with hardline Islamic extremism.

Home to Talha Asmal - the 17-year-old boy believed to be Britain's youngest suicide bomber - Dewsbury is also where two of Britain's 7/7 bombers lived, including the man who masterminded the attack, Mohammad Sidique Khan.

Talha Asmal - the 17-year-old boy believed to be Britain's youngest suicide bomber - was from Dewsbury

Killers: 7/7 mastermind Mohammad Sidique Khan (right) and fellow Tube bomber Shehzad Tanweer (left) were also from the West Yorkshire town

Khan bombed the Edgware Road London Underground train in 2005, killing himself and five others, and was the eldest of the four attackers.

He is thought to have indoctrinated the younger bombers, including Shehzad Tanweer, 22, who killed seven as he blew himself up between Liverpool Street and Aldgate.

Tanweer attended Tablighi mosque in Dewsbury with Khan, who was originally from Beeston, near Leeds, before the attack, which claimed the lives of 52 innocent people and injured more than 700.

Other extremists from Dewsbury - particularly from the enclave of Savile Town which is almost entirely Muslim - include Talha's best friend and neighbour Hassan Munshi.

Both entered Syria after fleeing Britain on a Thomas Cook flight in April, with Talha reported to have been killed this week after detonating a car packed with explosives as part of an ISIS attack in Iraq.

Talha's distraught family said last night that jihadis used the internet to exploit the A-level student's naivety in a process of 'deliberate and calculated grooming'.

Bubbling away under the surface of Dewsbury (pictured) is a deep-rooted problem with hardline Islamic extremism

The family said the ISIS cause was not supported by the Muslim community.

They said: 'The entire family unreservedly condemns and abhors all acts of violence wherever perpetrated.

'As a family we would like to take this opportunity to unequivocally state that 'ISIS' are not Islam. They do not represent in any way, shape or form Islam and Muslims and we are no longer prepared to allow a barbaric group like 'ISIS' to hijack our faith.'

Talha's friend Munshi is reportedly the brother of Hammaad Munshi, also from Dewsbury, who was arrested by counter-terrorism police at the age of 15 back in 2006.

He was later convicted over his role in a brutal plan to murder non-Muslims.

Hammaad was groomed by Aabid Khan, who was jailed for 12 years in 2008 after spending years building up a computer 'encyclopaedia' of extremist material, including a file on various members of the royal family.

Khan, who worked in a burger bar in nearby Bradford, lost little time enrolling the teenager in his 'mission in life' - the destruction of Western values and the 'wiping out' of all non-believers.

The plotter was also linked to terrorists in Glasgow, Washington DC and Toronto, Canada.

Paranoid schizophrenic Haroon Aswat, also from Dewsbury, plotted to set up a terrorist training camp in the US with hook-handed extremist Abu Hamza.

He pleaded guilty to conspiring to create a terrorist training camp in Bly, Oregon, 15 years ago, and could face 20 years in jail in America when he is sentenced next month.

Aswat fought extradition from the UK for several years and was held at Broadmoor Hospital before being sent to the US last October.

In January the European Court of Human Rights dismissed a case he brought against the British Government arguing that his extradition rested on inadequate assurances from US officials about his treatment.

His lawyers claimed that it had breached Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Paranoid schizophrenic Haroon Aswat (right), also from Dewsbury, plotted to set up a terrorist training camp in the US with hook-handed extremist Abu Hamza (left)

The tide of Islamic extremism in Dewsbury has angered far-right extremists, with the English Defence League (EDL) targeting the mill town for rallies.

A gang of six militant Islamists plotted to bomb one rally in June 2012, but missed the event as it finished early.

Aabid Khan spenT years building up a computer 'encyclopaedia' of extremist material

An arsenal of sawn-off shotguns, machetes, swords, knives and a nail bomb was later found when the car was impounded. A document was discovered describing their attack as an ‘Operation in Defence of the Prophet Mohammed’.

Shoppers and workers would have been in the town centre at the time of the planned attack and there could have been multiple fatalities, a court heard.

Omar Khan, 31, and Jewel Uddin, 27, who were in the car carrying the weapons and helped make the bombs, were each jailed for 19 years and six months.

Three men in a second car, Mohammed Saud, 23, Zohaib Ahmed, 22, and Anzal Hussain, 25, were jailed for a total of 58 years.

Mohammed Hasseen, 24, who paid for the rental car, was jailed for 18 years and nine months.

In total, the men had 17,779 computer files relating to ideological material, of which 1,152 had extreme content.

Around a quarter of all of Dewsbury's population is British, but Savile Town is said to be 97 per cent Muslim.

Between 1991 and 2001, the Pakistani community saw an increase in population of 60 per cent while the Indian population rose by a quarter. In the same period, the white population fell two per cent.

The quaint, thriving town is home to more than 62,000 people and is one of the largest settlements in the area.

(From top row left to right) Jewel Uddin, Mohammed Saud, Zohaib Ahmed, (bottom row left to right) Anzal Hussain, Mohammed Hasseen, Omar Khan. They plotted to attack an EDL rally in Dewsbury

Qari Asim, imam at the Makkah Mosque in Leeds, said ISIS groom people online 'like a paedophile ring'.

He said: 'As an Imam, we are not aware of mosques preaching radicalisation but it must be happening somewhere, whether it's underground or online.

'It's like a paedophile ring. I hate to say it, but it is. They prey on vulnerability. They persuade them there's a great life ahead of them in Syria and Iraq but we know it's not like that.

The family of Talha Asmal (pictured) said jihadis used the internet to exploit and groom him

'We don't know why there is a problem in Dewsbury. Ultimately it comes down to people preying on people's vulnerability.

'They could be in London, Cardiff or indeed Dewsbury.

'People who see radicalisation in mosques have a duty to report it. It's our duty to our religion, our nation and the globe - because what we're seeing with ISIS is a global threat.'

Haras Rafiq, managing director of the Quilliam Foundation counter-extremism think-tank, said young Muslims are being coerced by extremists, like ISIS, by their use of propaganda and social media.

He said: 'Youngsters are looking for solutions to problems and grievances they may have. These grievances may be either real and genuine, perceived or partial.

'It could be anything - that they are bored, that they are looking for adventure or suffering from racism.

'In the case of women it could be that they are suffering from cultural regressiveness.

'What happens is that they are driven to charismatic recruiters either offline or online and then they find a solution to their problems ... which has a theological justification under it.

'Isis is almost like a corporate entity, this is 21st century jihad and getting their message out to people is very important to them.'

Mr Rafiq said there are three types of people returning from jihad to the UK - those who are left disturbed, the dangerous and the disillusioned.

And he claimed there was a need to get the message across that jihad is not an adventure or like a school gap year.

He said: 'We need to focus on the ideological, the intellectual, the social, emotional and spiritual aspects of the lens that charismatic recruiters will try to push these people through.

'The style with which we do that has to be one youngsters respond to - it could be humour, it could be satire, it could counter theology or counter politics, giving them a whole new way to solve their grievances.