NEW DELHI: Around 36 Islamic State operatives have reportedly been killed in Afghanistan after the United States dropped its most powerful non-nuclear bomb in the Nangarhar province. It’s not yet clear if any of them were from India. The question assumes significance as at least 20 Indians are suspected to be undergoing training at the Nangarhar IS camp.
According to intelligence agencies, youngsters fleeing from south Indian states to join the Islamic State land up in Nangarhar for training. “It is suspected that more than 20 young men from India, mostly from Kerala, are being trained by ISIS at the Nangarhar camp, close to Jalalabad,” says a report by India’s external intelligence agency RAW.
“It is suspected that these youth may have managed to enter Afghanistan by first going to some Gulf country. ISIS will try and send these men back to India to launch some terror operation,” the report adds. India has invested $2 million in Nangarhar province, as part of its developmental assistance to Afghanistan, to build clinics and irrigation projects.