BENGALURU/NEW DELHI: Three youths from Karnataka, including two from Bengaluru, have died while fighting alongside Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters in Iraq and Syria. A recent Intelligence Bureau (IB) report confirmed that the youths had joined the terror group a few years back, much before the Bengaluru police arrested alleged ISIS sympathiser Mehdi Masroor Biswas last December.
However, state intelligence department officers and the Bengaluru police have no clue about the youths joining the terror group or having died there. “We recently received reports from central agencies about two or three people from India who died while fighting with the ISIS. We, however, have no confirmation if any of them were from Karnataka,’’ a senior officer with the state intelligence department told Express.
The IB report that made the startling revelations, identified them as Faiz Masood of Cooke Town, Umar Subhan of Shivajinagar (both in Bengaluru) and Abdul Khuddus Turki of Vijayapura in north Karnataka. All three died in coalition strikes against the ISIS, the report stated. While Faiz left India for Qatar and subsequently went to Syria in September 2013 after having applied for a passport in July the same year, Umar travelled to Yemen in 2008, and later went on to fight for the ISIS. The report stated that Faiz, after reaching Syria, joined the ISIS. According to the report, he was among around 12,000 recruits from around 81 countries.
Sources tracking jihadis from India said Turki was the latest on their list. Turki, according to intelligence inputs, travelled to Saudi Arabia in July 2014 and left for Iraq to join the ISIS.
Another terror recruit from south India - Abu Tahir from Palakkad in Kerala - has also reportedly died while fighting for the banned terrorist group in the terror zones of Syria and Iraq. Intelligence agencies had earlier confirmed that Sultan Armar, a former Indian Mujahideen operative-turned-ISIS recruit from Bhatkal in Karnataka may have been killed in Kobane while fighting alongside the ISIS.
Among 11 Indian ISIS recruits identified by the intelligence agencies, four were learnt to be from Karnataka. Another recruit - Areeb Majeed from Maharashtra - chose to return to India after getting injured in Iraq.
However, sources suggest that at least five Indians remain in ISIS dominated territories. But, Indian intelligence agencies believe that the ISIS’ influence in the country is waning. “It is very clear that the ISIS propaganda doesn’t have any influence on Indian youth. The very few who had joined, are believed to have already headed out. Majeed, who returned to India, told interrogators that the ground reality was the mirror opposite of ISIS propaganda,” said a source.
Express visited the houses of both Faiz and Umar on Tuesday to learn more about the duo. While Umar’s family has been evicted from the building that they used to live in for not paying rent for almost 15 years, Faiz’s family refused to speak to the media. The State government also was tight-lipped.