Security agencies in India have swung into action after the images of a Kerala engineer who was supposedly killed while fighting for the Islamic State (IS) in Libya appeared once again in the IS propaganda magazine Voice of Khorasan, according to a report by The New Indian Express.
The recent issue of Voice of Khorasan, the Islamic State’s mouthpiece in Afghanistan and surrounding regions, had a story about Abu Bakr Al Hindi, “who was born in Kerala in a Christian family.” The agencies have now contacted engineers’ associations in Bengaluru and Kerala to gather more information about this individual. Unfortunately, the inquiry has been hampered by lack of information concerning Abu’s true identity as well as data about his family.
The Keralite was mentioned in an IS document titled ‘Know your martyrs,’ which stated that Abu Bakr Al-Hindi was a Christian who converted to Islam while working in the Gulf. According to the paper, he is the first Indian ‘Istishhadi’ (suicide bomber) to be killed in the African continent.
According to the article in Voice of Khorasan, Abu was drawn to Islam after reading about ‘Prophet Isa and his mother Maryam’ in material supplied by a bookstall. He was recruited to the IS after hearing the lectures of Anwar al-Awlaki, the dreaded preacher executed in a US drone strike in 2011. According to the magazine, Abu’s repeated attempts to relocate to IS-controlled territory in Yemen failed owing to logistical obstacles, but the chance to join the Libyan module eventually came up with the support of his Gulf connections.
Abu received military training in Sirte after arriving in Libya. The current issue of the magazine mentions, “Brother Abu Bakr joined operation istishhadi (suicide attack). When the apostates reached gate 40, he was selected and carried out istishhadi operation on the murtaddin and attained martyrdom.”
Another Kerala engineer ‘Najeeb’ died in a suicide attack in Afghanistan
OpIndia reported in March of this year that ISKP featured another engineering student from Kerala in its magazine Voice of Khorasan. The Indian fighter’s identity was given only by his assumed name, Najeeb Al Hindi, in a story reporting his death, and he was identified as a 23-year-old “engineering (M.Tech) student from Kerala.” The article provided no other information on Najeeb, nor did it specify when he died or the circumstances surrounding his demise.
ISKP in its second volume of “Voice of Khurasan” has an obituary of a Najeeb Al-Hindi, an https://t.co/YnKivSFB12 from Kerala, India. A 23 year old who came from India to Afghanistan and was killed there recently. pic.twitter.com/eO4HXJGWeK
— Iftikhar Firdous (@IftikharFirdous) March 9, 2022
According to the ISKP mouthpiece, Najeeb was only interested in fighting for Islamic State and did not want to marry, but at the persuasion of friends, he married another jihadi female from a Pakistani household. The ISKP propaganda magazine compared Najeeb to Hanzala Ibn Abi Mair, one of Prophet Mohammad’s companions who was killed in a fight on his wedding night.
ISIS connection to Kerala
As early as 2014, the Islamic State established roots in Kerala, with modules encouraging religious conversions and aiming to attract professionals to join its troops in Afghanistan and Syria. Plenty of Kerala men and women are said to have joined the ISKP in recent years.
The United Nations warned in its 2020 terrorism report that there are a substantial number of ISIS terrorists in the Indian state of Kerala, stating that the ISIL Indian affiliate (Hind Wilayah), which was declared on May 10, 2019, has around 200 members.
Furthermore, a National Investigation Agency’s chargesheet filed in July 2020 in connection with the murder of Special Sub Inspector Wilson revealed a strong association between ISIS terrorists active and growing in the state.
