Shamima Begum: UK shooting range defends using images of Isis bride as targets Children as young as six are welcome at the range

A shooting range has defended using an image of Shamima Begum for target practice after it received “a record number of requests” from its customers.

Ultimate Airsoft Range LTD, which is based in the Wirral, Merseyside, set up images of the 19-year-old woman for customers to shoot at the centre.

‘Lighthearted fun’

One poster had been shot at least 100 times, reported the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire Show.

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The air range believe Ms Begum’s comments that she “was not fazed” by seeing a severed head in a bin illustrates she is not affected by the violence she has witnessed during her four years in Syria.

Children as young as six are welcome at the range, according to the Liverpool Echo.

In a statement, Ultimate Airsoft Range said: “The targets provide some fantastic reactions and conversations and allow people to have some lighthearted fun and bring out the inner child in us all.

“The targets don’t always reflect personal opinions and we don’t want to condone terrorism.

“But after watching the interview with Ms Begum being interviewed, there was a lack of empathy that she had shown and we decided to listen to our customers and use them as targets.”

‘Highly offensive’

Several online commentators branded the move “highly offensive.”

One veteran said the shooting range should be ashamed.

“I am ex-army and agree with learning about guns in a safe and controlled way but also respect for the harm guns can do,” tweeted army veteran Adam Petch.

“This IS NOT ‘fun for all the family’, shame on the shooting range for thinking the Shamima Begum case is funny. # gunsarenottoys,” he added.

Controversial plea to return home

Ms Begum became headline news earlier this month, when she was discovered at el-Hawl refugee camp in Syria after she fled the UK four years ago to join Isis.

During her absence from the UK, she married a Dutch-born Isis fighter who has since been imprisoned, and has had three children – two of whom have died.

She has pleaded to return to the UK for the safety of her newborn son, saying she would “do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child”.

Her appeal to return to the UK became a source of controversy after she said she did not regret joining militant terrorist group Isis, but would like to return to the UK.

She was issued a letter by the Home Office stating she had been stripped of her British citizenship.

The journalist who found Ms Begum at al-Hawl camp has said her lack of empathy is characteristic of people suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), an anxiety disorder caused by very stressful, frightening or distressing events.

Anthony Loyd, a journalist for The Times, said Ms Begum spoke “in the precise and predictable indoctrinated manner of any other indoctrinated member of the Islamic State”.

He said: “Not only will Ms Begum’s capabilities for individual thought, reason and feeling have been stunted by spending so long in Isis territory at such an influential age, she also lacks the liberty to speak freely even if she wanted to.”