According to the Islamic State-Khorasan Province’s mouthpiece Voice of Khurasan, an Indian-origin terrorist of the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP) has died fighting in Afghanistan, presumably in a suicide attack.
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
In an article announcing his death, Islamic State-Khorasan Province revealed the identity of the Indian fighter only by adopted name, Najeeb Al Hindi, and described him as a 23-year-old “engineering (M.Tech) student from Kerala.” The post did not disclose any other information on Najeeb, nor did it state when he died or the circumstances surrounding his death.
According to the article, Najeeb travelled “all the way from India” to Khorasan, Afghanistan where ISKP is situated. The ISKP heaped praises on the killed terrorist and hailed how he had faced difficulties but had continued his jihad as an ISKP ‘fighter’.
The ISKP mouthpiece equates Najeeb to Hanzala Ibn Abi Mair, one of the associates of Prophet Mohammad, who was killed in a fight on his wedding night.
The ISKP mouthpiece further stated that Najeeb was only focused on fighting for IS and did not want to get married, but on the insistence of friends, he was married to another jihadi girl of a Pakistani family.
The ISKP post hints that Najeeb was used by them for a suicide attack against ‘kuffars’, and he had gladly volunteered for the job.
The ISIS connection of Kerala
Islamic State established roots in Kerala as early as 2014, with modules encouraging religious conversions and attempting to recruit professionals to join its ranks in Afghanistan and Syria. Several hundred Kerala men and women are thought to have joined the ISKP in recent years.
In its terrorism report for 2020, the United Nations also warned that there are a significant number of ISIS terrorists in the Indian state of Kerala, noting that the ISIL Indian offshoot (Hind Wilayah), which was proclaimed on May 10, 2019, has between 180 and 200 members.
Furthermore, a charge sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency in July 2020 in connection with the murder of Special Sub Inspector Wilson discovered a positive correlation between ISIS militants active and flourishing in the state of Kerala.
The NIA is currently investigating cases related to IS operating recruitment centres in Kerala. Several non-Muslim women have also been radicalised and converted in the last few years and have been sent to Afghanistan and Syria to fight for the Islamic State.
