Children taken to safety in Raqqa after hundreds of people fled camp holding Islamic State affiliates in northern Syria

Three orphans believed to be British citizens have been evacuated from an area in northern Syria that was the focus of recent attacks by Turkish troops and their allies.

The Guardian understands that the three children, Amira, 10, her sister, Hiba, eight, and their brother, Hamza, were evacuated from a camp for people associated with Islamic State in Ain Issa on Sunday. They were part of a group of 24 children taken to safety by the UN refugee organisation.

Confirming the evacuation, the organisation said: “[It’s] true. We did take them out from the camp to the safe location.”

The British charity Save the Children said on Monday night: “We are able to confirm that the three orphaned children featured in the BBC piece were unharmed during the incidents yesterday. They were being cared for in a centre for lone children run by a local agency in Ein Issa.

“Following the escalation, they, along with 21 other [unaccompanied children], were transferred to Raqqa, where they are being looked after. Yesterday over 900 people, including 700 children, fled the annex in Ain Issa, where foreign families were staying. Most of them are unaccounted for. We are deeply concerned for their wellbeing and safety of the children among them.

“Children in Syria who have fled Isis-held areas are innocent. They are swept up in horrific events far beyond their control and deserve to be safe and protected. We can and must give the British children the best chance of recovery by bringing them to the UK before it’s too late.”

Concern had been mounting over the fate of the children after hundreds of inmates in the camp fled shelling from Turkish forces. There were calls for the children to be repatriated to the UK amid concern they could be abducted.

The three orphans were discovered by the BBC and are believed to have travelled to Syria with their parents from London five years ago.

Their mother and father, an older brother and two other sisters were killed in an airstrike on the Isis-controlled enclave of Baghuz, which finally fell to Kurdish led-forces in March.

The BBC broadcast a moving interview with Amira on Sunday in which she described being keen to get back to the UK.

She said she and her surviving siblings have a grandmother, but she did not know her name. The children speak Arabic, but speak English when they are together and Amira has traces of a London accent. Hiba showed the camera a large scar on her abdomen, indicating the violence they appear to have endured.

Shortly after their whereabouts became known, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Turkish warplanes struck villages near the camp, 20 miles south of the Turkish-Syrian border. Hundreds of people in the secure camp escaped as clashes broke out between Turkish-backed Syrian fighters and Kurdish forces, local officials said.

The camp houses about 13,000 people, including nearly 1,000 foreign women with links to Isis and their children.

According to the Kurdish-led administration in northern Syria, about 950 residents fled. They said Isis supporters attacked guards and stormed the gates.

It later emerged that several dozen unaccompanied children in the camp had been rescued by UN staff before the breakout and taken to a safe location nearby.

The evacuations from Ain Issa came as the UN children’s agency, Unicef, reported that 70,000 children had been displaced in a week of fighting.

Play Video 4:04 What does Turkey's military action in northern Syria mean? – video explainer

Turkey is fighting for control of an area of Kurdish-controlled northern Syria with the tacit backing of the US – which previously counted the Kurds as allies, but withdrew troops from the area early last week.

The chaos at the camp led to some US troops withdrawing from a base in Ain Issa because of the threat posed by Syrian fighters allied with Turkey. A US military official said the situation across north-east Syria was “deteriorating rapidly” and that American forces were cut off from the Syrian Kurdish fighters.

At least 750 Isis affiliates escape Syria camp after Turkish shelling Read more

Amira, whose surname is not known, told the BBC she left London at the age of five but recalled aspects of life in the UK, saying she would “go to a park, go to a funfair, go to a restaurant”.

Speaking in English, she then described the attack in which her parents and three siblings died.

“They were hitting so much,” she said. “There was a little house and that big dusty mountain and behind it everybody was dead. In front of us was everyone who was not killed, the other people.

“We were going to pack our stuff and get out, the airplane came and bombed. So then my mum died, my littlest brother, my little brother and my sister. Then after that, all was getting on fire. We had to walk out.”

A UK government spokesperson said: “There may be British children in internally displaced persons camps in Syria who, because of their age, are innocent victims of the conflict. We look at all evidence to determine someone’s nationality and will examine every single case where we are asked for consular assistance, but this process is far from straightforward.”