Bharat Rakshak

A Toronto man is named on an Interpol list of individuals suspected to belong to an ISIS suicide brigade, according to a Canadian expert on radicalization and foreign fighters. Tabirul Hasib first disappeared five years ago when he booked a flight to the Middle East along with three other Toronto men, Abdul Malik and two others — Nur and Adib — whose last names are not known. What followed was a desperate attempt by the men's parents to keep them from falling into the hands of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), beginning with missing person's reports to Toronto police. From there, officers with the RCMP's Integrated National Security Enforcement team became involved, asking tough questions of their families.

When Abdul Malik's father learned the young men were headed to Syria, he and Nur's father got on a plane and managed to convince the four to come home, where he says they were repeatedly questioned by CSIS agents and RCMP officers. In July 2014, three of the men disappeared again.

Now, five years later, Hasib's name has surfaced on a list of people who could launch attacks in the West, says researcher Amarnath Amarasingam, a fellow at the George Washington University's Program on Extremism. CBC News first reported on Hasib in March 2015 when it was determined that the now-25-year-old was among five people to have been recruited by Timmins, Ont.-born foreign fighter Andre Poulin, who died while fighting in Syria in 2013 at age 24. It is possible that Poulin might be a "recent convert" or might have fallen under the influence of radical Islamists !

The list on which Hasib's name appears — along with his nom du guerre Abu Bakr al-Bangladeshi — was first reported on last month in The Guardian. The British newspaper said it was based on data collected by U.S. intelligence and circulated by Interpol on May 27.

According to The Guardian, the list says those named "may have been trained to build and position improvised explosive devices in order to cause serious deaths and injuries. It is believed that they can travel internationally, to participate in terrorist activities."CBC News has not obtained an original copy of the list, but The Guardian reports that it contains the suspects' names, their recruitment dates, their last likely addresses, their mothers' names and any available photographs.But Hasib's appearance on it comes as a surprise to Amarasingam. On ISIS entrance forms, Hasib is listed as someone who wanted to be a fighter, he notes — not someone looking to be a suicide bomber. The former Monarch Park Collegiate student and apparent graduate was active in his school's athletic program, participating in long-distance running competitions before enrolling in Centennial College. It's a stark contrast to his portrayal on the list as an aspiring bomber with a suicide brigade.Whether Hasib is still alive isn't yet known. At least two of his three friends are believed to be dead, said Amarasingam."This likely means that he joined this so-called suicide brigade later on, possibly after his friends were killed," Amarasingam told CBC News. Anyone possessing a western passport is a prize catch for ISIS. ! The role of "radical imams" preaching Jihadist Ideology at the Friday sermons in his home town of Toronto , cannot be ruled out as the reason for his conversion !

"I think we are operating under the 'returnee' assumption, which says that Canadians will go back to Canada, French will go back to France and so on. It doesn't have to be that way," Amarasingam said. "Their goal is to attack the West."

The Islamic State (IS) on Monday claimed that an Indian suicide bomber had killed a “number” of people in an attack in Syria’s north-west Raqqa, the de-facto capital of the terror group.

In a statement in Arabic, the IS identified the terrorist as Abu Yusuf al-Hindi, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S.-based monitoring firm.

The terror group claimed killing and wounding a “number” of what it described as “Kurdistan Workers’ Party [PKK] apostates” in the suicide attack.

However, Indian agencies had not confirmed the IS claim.

Al-Hindi was the fugitive chief recruiter for the IS in the Indian subcontinent and was known as Mohammed Shafi Armar, who had many aliases like ‘Chhote Maula’ and ‘Anjan Bhai’.

The 30-year-old was named a ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist’ by the U.S. in June, becoming the first Indian leader of the outfit against whom U.S. had imposed sanctions.

Security agencies have not been able to “independently verify” reports that Shafi Armar, the Islamic State’s chief recruiter in the Indian subcontinent, was killed in a suicide attack on Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Raqqa in Syria, the terror group’s de facto capital and last stronghold.

“The message has been put out on some news agency run by a terrorist organisation. We have not got any confirmation from either Syria or U.S.-led coalition forces who are active there. Even his family in Bhatkal have not been informed,” said a senior Home Ministry official. A message released in Arabic by the IS-backed Amaq news agency said that an Indian fighter named Abu Yusuf al-Hindi was killed while “carrying out a suicide bombing on SDF in Raqqa”. The message also mentioned that an Australian fighter called Abu Fahad Kariteen was also killed in the attack.

As per the records of Indian agencies, Yusuf al-Hindi is a nom de guerre of Armar.

An official said that Yusuf al-Hindi was also the online identity of Mohammad Sajid, alias Bada Sajid, a former Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative from Azamgarh in U.P. said to have been killed two years ago in a drone strike by coalition forces in Syria.

Propaganda video

In May 2016, 10 months after agencies confirmed his death, Sajid and five other Indians featured in a propaganda video shot near Syria’s Lake Homs. In the video they called on Indian Muslim men to travel to IS-held territories to avenge “Babri Masjid [demolition] and the killings of Muslims in Kashmir, Gujarat and Muzaffarnagar”.

According to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Armar, a resident of Bhatkal in Karnataka and a former member of IM, was made the terror group’s “media chief” last year and he oversaw recruitments not only from India but across the world.

Both Armar and Sajid fled to Pakistan along with other IM members after the 2008 serial bomb blasts. Armar and his elder brother Sultan floated the Ansar-ul-Tawhid (AuT) with the help of the al-Qaeda. The AuT later pledged allegiance to the IS. The IM leaders are believed to have travelled to Syria via Afghanistan in 2014. Sultan was killed in a drone strike in Syria in 2015.

Armar’s name cropped up during interrogation of at least 35 men arrested across the country for alleged links to the IS, the NIA said.

The National Investigation Agency has taken over from the Delhi Police special cell the probe into the links of an alleged Islamic State operative, Shajahan Velluva Kandy, who was deported from Turkey in July this year.

Shajahan was arrested by the Delhi Police special cell on July 1 this year after he was deported by Turkish authorities.

Hailing from Kannur in Kerala, Shajahan was allegedly trying to sneak into Syria to join the IS when he was held by Turkish agencies and was deported back to India. “The NIA has taken over the case and started the investigation,” a statement from the agency said here on Friday.

The NIA arrested a Chennai resident for allegedly propagating the Islamic State ideology and involvement in a conspiracy to stage terror attacks in parts of Tamil Nadu.

The NIA in a statement accused Shakul Hameed and eight others of hatching a conspiracy to launch attacks to “further the activities of the proscribed terrorist organisation ISIS/Daesh”.

A renowned Indian Islamic scholar and pro-jihad radical cleric, Salman Nadwi, finds himself at the centre of the political crisis between Qatar and the Saudi Arabia led Arab quartet which has blamed Doha for supporting Iran and terrorist groups.

Nadwi, diplomatic sources in Muscat confirmed, has been expelled by Oman for a lecture he had given at the local College of Shariah Sciences last week in which he had called for attack on Saudi Arabia and some other Gulf countries for having turned against Qatar.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE and Bahrain cut all diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar in June this year plunging the region into an unprecedented political crisis. Significantly, after he was expelled by Oman, Nadwi was spotted with 91-year-old Egyptian theologian Yusuf al Qaradawi earlier this week in Qatar's capital. Qaradawi is on the terror sanctions list of the Arab quartet for his alleged support to terrorism, most notably for advocating suicide bombings as a "higher form of jihad".

Nadwi's meeting with Qaradawi will be of significance to Indian security agencies who have closely followed Nadwi's activities since 2014 when he became one of the first international Islamic scholars to write to IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi congratulating him for declaring a Caliphate from a Mosul mosque.

Later, in an interaction with author Tufail Ahmad, Nadwi had said he only asked al-Baghdadi to pursue good relations with other countries including India and to not encourage sectarianism.

Nadwi, a top scholar of Sunni Islam at Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama in Lucknow, was once an ardent admirer of Saudi Arabia and had at one point of time written to its government calling for Riyadh to establish a confederation of all international jihadist groups. In his letter to the Saudi government, he had also offered to raise an Islamic army of 500,000 men from India and neighbouring countries.

According to Oman, Nadwi's lecture was against the "principles, approaches and policies" of the country and that's why he had to be expelled. While Riyadh has officially thanked Oman for Nadwi's expulsion, it is probably already seething over the fact that he is currently the guest of Qaradawi, an influential leader of Muslim Brotherhood, in Doha.

While he is not directly accused of carrying out any terror attack, Qaradawi has officially been described as a terrorist by Riyadh and its allies who have repeatedly urged Qatar to act against him.

"Qaradawi is one of the most public figureheads of the radical wing of the Muslim Brotherhood," a former FBI? counter-terror official was quoted as saying in a report by The Washington Post in June this year.

Doha, however, hasn't acted against him believing that he is being targeted only for being a political opponent of riyadh and its allies.

Nadwi has in the past described? Qaradawi as the uncontested Imam of the Muslim world and said that all Islamic movements within the International Union of Muslim Scholars recognised his rule and leadership. "Those who accuse you of terrorism are but creatures of villainy and wickedness," he was quoted as having said.

India on Wednesday assured its support to Syria in the fight against terrorism in the war-ravaged country, a major theatre of dreaded terror group Islamic State (IS).

This was conveyed when visiting grand mufti of Syrian Republic Ahmad Badr Eddine Mohammad Abid Hassoun met Home Minister Rajnath Singh here [New Delhi].

Long-standing ties

Mr. Singh assured the grand mufti of India’s support in eliminating terrorism on all fronts and recollected the long-standing friendship between India and Syria, an official statement said.

Official sources said the issue of several Indians joining the IS and fighting for the terror group in Syria and Iraq was understood to have figured in the discussion.

The Home Minister welcomed the grand mufti and discussion was held on wide-ranging issues including terrorism and security, the statement said.

The Home Minister was confident that bilateral relations would improve further by such visits and wished that peace and stability were restored in Syria soon. The grand mufti thanked the Home Minister and appreciated the secular credentials of India. The grand mufti was pleased to note the significance of unity in diversity in India, the statement said.

Talks on terrorism

During the meeting, the grand mufti highlighted the evils of terrorism by citing the example of the killing of his son by terrorists and how he forgave the assassin.

He expressed confidence that India would extend support in the fight against terrorism.

The Home Minister thanked the delegation for its visit to India.

SSridhar wrote:V J, what is the above video about? It says 'video unavailable'. A caption to the post or video would have helped.

Covert anti-terror investigators have stumbled on the biggest India-linked terror financier. The Dubai-based financial expert from Mumbai has exploited the legitimate money transfer route to help the Islamic State’s (IS) terror activities in Syria and Iraq. The terror outfit received an estimated Rs 40 lakh last year from Abu Nabil (real name Jamil), an MBA. The Rajasthan Anti-Terror Squad’s (ATS) electronic warfare unit earlier this month received confirmation in this regard from Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities.


The money is just the tip of the iceberg as investigators continue to unravel the funds moved through various layers. Nabil had hired mules in Sarajevo, Beirut and Istanbul to deliver the money to IS’s killing fields in Raqqa and Anbar provinces.

Some more Indian names have come on the radar of the investigators. They were allegedly used as couriers between India-Bangladesh and the UAE.

ATS operatives overrode the control system on a Dubai-based computer in October last year. It was Nabil talking to the ‘Beast of Islam’. The electronic ambush revealed that money was about to be transferred from Dubai to Sarajevo. The total amount was around $9,000 in three installments. The IS had adopted the rules of the ultra-secret world and unprecedented manoeuvres in the virtual world.

The operatives were working against a background of a state-of-the-art dark web, the most potent threats the world faces today. Another amount of $10,000 in four equal installments was shifted to Beirut and the ‘Beast of Islam’ was informed about the account. Two days later, another $12,000 was transferred to Istanbul in three installments. The ‘Beast of Islam’ had hired IS mules in all three cities and within a few weeks, the money landed in Raqqa.

A month later ‘Operation Nabil’ tracked the pugmarks of the Indian financier in Mumbai. He was picked up, interrogated and arrested for financing terrorism in Iraq and Syria. “We have forwarded the Letter Rogatory (LR) seeking information about 19 such transactions made by Nabil. It was his code name. We received confirmation recently about at least five-six transactions from Sarajevo and Beirut. Nabil’s linkages with ‘Beast of Islam’ have also been established. He is a top-ranking terrorist leader in IS. He was christened Abu Usama Al Somali by IS’s so-called caliph Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi,” a source said.

Abu Nabil was in touch with Abu Usama Al Somali, who is none other than Farah Mohamed Shirdon, a Canadian citizen, a prominent fundraiser and recruiter of the Islamic States. There were raging controversies about his death in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Unconfirmed reports had suggested that he was killed sometime in July 2015, but his links with Nabil nullify these half-baked reports.

“Nabil was in touch with Shirdon as well as a few other top leaders of IS. This has been confirmed by evidence collected electronically. Now, we have also confirmed the fact that he raised the money from India, Bangladesh and the UAE in the name of ‘Zakaat’. The donations were moved through a well-established hawala network in India,” a source said.

Senior IPS officer and well-known anti-terror operative Vikas Kumar said that they are facing some language barriers in Beirut and Istanbul about crucial details related to financial transactions made by Nabil. He said the authorities handling anti-terror financing units in these countries have raised certain queries on our documents. However, the money transfer scheme operators are coming forward to share the details.

“Nabil is the biggest India-linked IS terror financier we have been able to unearth so far. It is not just about his top connection in IS leadership in Raqqa, but also about his deep penetration in Bosnia, Lebanon and Turkey. Since 2014, he has mobilised funds through various online platforms.

He is an MBA and his shadowy operation to finance IS activities was well-planned,” Kumar said, adding that Nabil was earning Rs 3.5 lakh per month though his employer has told us that they were not aware of his activities. “He was using a separate UAE phone number, which he had left in Dubai. We have asked the UAE authorities to provide us with the call and message records of his phone. The request has been sent through an LR. Nabil was investing huge sums in real estate in Mumbai. He had purchased three properties in Mumbai suburbs between 2014 and 2016 through his brother-in-law,” explained Kumar.

Indian Donors & Couriers

The investigators last week questioned three persons in a covert sweep. Originally from Tamil Nadu {Tamil Nadu is surely becoming a hub for extremist jihadi terror activities. Tamil Nadu's politicians have been turning a blind eye to this reality for vote-bank reasons}, the suspects had allegedly donated ‘Zakaat’ money to Nabil through a hawala operator. The Chennai-based hawala operator, in turn, used to send the money to Dubai where Nabil was the recipient. From Dubai, the money was sent to Turkey.

“At least two suspects during the questioning said they were not aware of the ultimate use of the donation money. Nabil had told them the money would be used for poor Indian immigrants in the UAE. We need to establish the criminality on their part,” Kumar further added.

An official handling the foreign angle of the investigation said they have asked the authorities in three countries—Lebanon, Bosnia and Turkey—to find out about couriers that were used to withdraw the money from money transfer account.

“We suspect they are part of a recruitment network that is facilitating money movement in cash across the Syrian border. Initial information indicate the involvement of an IS network based in Sarajevo,” the official said.

Nabil and Awlaki

The most shocking revelation for the investigators is Nabil’s link with Anwar al-Awlaki, the Al Qaeda leader, who was killed in September 2011 in Yemen during a drone strike carried out by the US Special Forces. The investigators have seized a laptop from Nabil’s home in Dahanu near Mumbai, which provided explosive conversations between the two in 2010 and 2011. Awlaki, an American citizen of Yemeni descent, was a preacher of at least three 9/11 hijackers.

Awlaki had set up a vast terror network in Yemen in 2009. In 2010, the US designated him a global terrorist. It is learnt from the evidence recovered from Nabil’s laptop that he got in touch with Awlaki sometime in mid-2010 and continued the communication till September 30, 2011, when Awlaki was killed in a drone strike near Kashef town in Yemen. “He was tasked by Awlaki to raise funds and radicalise more people back in India for jihad. Nabil himself wanted to go to Syria after collecting more money, but the whole plan was nipped in the bud,” the official quoted above said.

A Kerala resident, who was said to have been killed during a battle in Afghanistan between Islamic State forces and American troops six months ago, sent a message to his family last week that he was not dead.

Bestin Vincent, a resident of Palakkad, who converted to Islam and assumed the identity of Yahya, had moved to Afghanistan with his wife, Merrin, alias Mariam, and 19 others to live in the IS-controlled territory in the Khorasan province of Afghanistan last year.

Both Vincent and Merrin converted after their marriage.

A senior government official said Vincent/Yahya had messaged his mother last week that he was alive.

Says he is safe

“Vincent’s mother received the message on Telegram [an Internet-based messaging service]. It was sent from a number that Vincent used when he went to Afghanistan last year. He said the report about him being killed was not true and that he was safe and sound {Now, isn't that a shame for somebody who wants martyrdom fighting the infidels to claim that he is 'safe & sound' ?} ,” said the official.

On April 29, B.C. Rehman, a relative of Mohammad Hafeezuddin, another absconding youth, who was allegedly killed in a drone attack last year, received a message that Vincent had been killed during a clash with the American forces. The message sent on WhatsApp by Ashfak Majeed, who was also part of the group that travelled to Afghanistan, said, “Yahya (Bestin), whom you all consider a Jew, have become martyr Inshaallah . It was in frontline of war against American kufrs (Infidels).”

NIA sceptical

A National Investigation Agency (NIA) official said the agency was yet to hear anything from the Afghan authorities. “This message further creates confusion. We are not taking it at face value,” said the NIA official.

Another Kerala resident, Murshid Mohammad, is also said to have been killed in drone attacks last year.

While the message sent on WhatsApp in April was in Malayalam, the one sent by Vincent to his mother was in English.

On April 18, an Afghanistan-based news agency had claimed that 13 Indians were killed in the Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) attack by the U.S. military in Achin district of Nangarhar province but the claims were neither corroborated by the NIA nor the family members.

Vincent's brother Bexon and his wife, Nimisha, alias Fathima, who also converted to Islam, had also left for Afghanistan along with others.

Mainly comprising defectors from the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Wilayat Khorasan of Islamic State in Afghanistan came into existence in 2015.

I was not a loser before I came to Syria. I made more money in a day than most of you make in a month, praise be to God. I had a Porsche, I was doing very well in my life. I was looking forward to saving up to buy a villa and a Lamborghini. But God made me leave all this rubbish behind and come to Syria for the afterlife.

Sachin wrote:Mother of another ‘love jihad’ victim moves SC
This plea is important; because Kerala Govt. has filed an affidavit that NIA investigation was not really warranted in the case of Akhila @ Hadiya. The appeal filed by her "husband" in Hon.SC is being heard today. He also wants the NIA investigation to be called off. NIA got involved based on a previous SC order only. This new plea, would once again bring back the aspect of the "organised groups encouraging conversion to Islam" being brought up again.

In what could boost National Investigation Agency's probe into cases of Islamic State operatives of Indian origin, Karen Aisha Hamidon — named in radicalization of Indian recruits — has been arrested in the Philippines.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) of the Philippines arrested the prominent female online recruiter who has been acting on behalf of the IS on several social media platforms.

Hamidon, widow of Philippines-based terrorist leader Mohammad Jafaar Maquid, gained international notoriety in 2016 when Indian agencies found that she used Facebook, Telegram channels and WhatsApp groups to recruit 'foreign fighters' from India and other countries.

Since then, she is wanted by intelligence agencies of over a dozen countries.

NIA had sent a letter rogatory (a judicial request) last year to Philippines seeking details and evidence on Karen. In its request, NIA had provided her address in Diego Shilang village in Taguig City, Metro Manila, along with her phone numbers and her identity as Karen Aisha Al-Muslimah with her ID as @KarenAishaHamidon.

Now, sources say, NIA will approach Philippines once again seeking access to her, so that she can be questioned about her links with ISIS operatives from India, who are yet to be traced. NIA may request to question her, either by video conferencing or by allowing a team to travel to Manila, added the source.

Karen was arrested by the Phillippines agency two days back from Manila.

Two Indian ISIS operatives - including an Indian Oil Corporation manager Mohammad Sirajuddin, arrested from Jaipur, and 23- year-old computer engineer from Tamil Nadu Mohammad Naseer, deported from Sudan — had claimed they were influenced by Karen.

NIA had even named her in two of its chargesheets last year. She reportedly influenced many Indians through Facebook, Telegram channels and WhatsApp groups meant for IS supporters in countries like the US, the UK, India, the UAE, Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh etc.

According to NIA, she managed large online groups - "IslamQ&A" and "Ummah Affairs" — where IS members shared Caliphate's ideology and jihadi material and expressed a desire to travel to the territory.

Some of the Indian IS operatives who were in touch with Karen reportedly came from Mumbai, Tiruchirappalli, Hyderabad, Srinagar, Sopore, Kanpur, Kolkata and Jaipur.

In its chargesheet against Sirajuddin, NIA had claimed last year that he joined one of the WhatsApp groups namely "Ummah Affairs" using his mobile number.

Interestingly, Karen had blocked Sirajuddin at one point from the WhatsApp groups and Telegram channels run and administered by her as she had differences with him. Sirajuddin, who was in touch with another IS online recruiter identified as "Mad-Mullah", felt that Karen was a traitor and spread information about her that she was from a rival group.

Asean defence ministers are meeting today to map out a response to possible new threats posed by ISIS as some of its fighters return to Asia to regroup and recruit after its defeat in the Middle East.

Their two-day meeting at a former US air base north of Manila comes as Philippine security forces remained locked in fierce combat with some 30 remaining Muslim militants and their kin in Marawi city.

The latter are holed up in a two-storey structure in the southern Philippine city, which has been wracked by fierce fighting for five months now.

Counter-terrorism experts have warned that Asia's capitals are facing a more elusive and lethal incarnation of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), as the militant group returns to its roots as a guerilla force, following crushing blows in the Middle East and in the Philippines.

A United States-backed coalition of Arab and Kurdish forces last week retook Raqqa, in Syria, marking the symbolic demise of the ISIS caliphate.

Days later, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared Marawi "free of terrorists' influence", after security forces killed two top pro-ISIS extremists who led hundreds of militants that stormed the city on May 23, and had held on to parts of it since then.

Following these defeats, ISIS fighters are regrouping in remote areas in Syria and Iraq.

Many battle-hardened ISIS veterans from Asia are expected to head back to their "wilayats", or provinces", in South Asia and South-east Asia to recruit more followers, sow violence and inspire lone-wolf attacks.

These are among the new threats expected to be discussed during the 11th Asean Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM), set for today and tomorrow, at the Clark special economic zone.

Singapore's Ministry of Defence said in a statement that Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen will speak about "Singapore's plans to continue to strengthen regional counter-terrorism cooperation, and promulgate confidence-building measures to enhance maritime and aviation safety".

The Philippines will be handing the ADMM chairmanship to Singapore tomorrow.

Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines have already begun joint patrols of terrorist-plagued waters off the Sulu archipelago in Mindanao and Sabah. They recently agreed to complement these with joint air patrols.

Earlier this year, Asean foreign ministers agreed to adopt more measures to stem the flow of militants across South-east Asia and to starve them of terrorist funding. There have also been proposals to crack down on online ISIS propaganda and recruitment efforts.

Asean defence ministers will be meeting as Philippine troops seek to declare an end to the five-month-long Marawi siege, the country's biggest internal security crisis in years.

Colonel Romeo Brawner, deputy commander of Joint Task Force Ranao, said the army had to clear just one more building.

"There's just one building and they're inside," he told reporters. "We believe these are ones who decided to fight it out, because they believe that if they die there they will go to heaven."

After the fall of Islamic State's de facto capital Raqqa last week, several countries, including India, are gearing up to the threat of return of foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) which, security agencies say, should not be taken lightly.

Counter-terrorism officials say several IS fighters of Indian origin, who had travelled to Iraq, Syria or Afghanistan before or after 2014 in groups or individually, will now try to return to India after the loss of territory by the dreaded terror outfit.

The arrest of three IS suspects - Abdul Razk, Midilaj and MV Rashid, residents of Kerala, by police on Wednesday upon their return from Turkey is a sign that ISIS fighters are making attempts to return.

The number of Indians in Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi-led terror outfit is a miniscule, a little over 100, as compared to the number of fighters from UK, France, Belgium or Russia, but the fact that they would be highly trained; capable of easily mingling with the local population; and may work as part of 'sleeper cells' or for 'lone wolf' attacks cannot be overlooked.

Investigators said the arrested operatives, along with others from Kerala, had travelled to Turkey and Syria to fight alongside Islamic State. Sources said Razk, Rashid and Midilaj are also linked to Shajahan Velluva Kandy alias Mohamed Ismail Mohideen, who was arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police in July on his return from Turkey. NIA got five-day custody of Mohideen on Wednesday to question him about others who may try to come back to India.

Officials feel there is an urgent need to keep a close watch on Indian airports, ports, borders or other entry/exit points and all the agencies should update themselves with the latest information/data on suspects who travelled to ISIS territories or other countries with a dream to fight for the so-called caliphate.

Indian intelligence agencies also need to be in touch with partner countries in counter-terrorism efforts like the US, UK, France, Turkey, UAE, Iran and Saudi Arabia to alert about suspicious Indian travellers, who could be using fake identities to return to India, apart from taking help from Interpol to scan its database of 40,000 foreign terrorist fighters, said officials.

Two more people suspected to have links with the Islamic State (IS) were arrested by the police in Kannur on Thursday.

With this, the total number of suspected IS operatives arrested in the district has risen to five. Three youths were arrested on October 25.

The arrested have been identified as Hamza and Manaf, both natives of Thalassery. Hamza was suspected to be a recruiter of Muslim youths to the IS, the police said. He is a religious preacher.

The police on Wednesday arrested Midilaj K.C. (26), Rashid M.P. (23), both natives of Munderi and Abdul Razakh K. (24) from Chekkikkulam. They had been deported by the Turkish police four months ago after they were captured while trying to cross the border to Syria.

Controversial preacher Zakir Naik deliberately insulted the religious beliefs of Hindus, Christians and Islamic sects like Shia, Sufi and Barelvi, and his speeches influenced recruits to the cause of the so-called Islamic State, the National Investigation Agency has said.

The agency has chargesheeted the "televangelist" under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for heading an 'unlawful association' and accused him of inciting youth to take up terror acts and join global terror outfits like Islamic State.

Naik's NGO Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), banned in 2016 under the UAPA, as well as private firm Harmony Media Pvt Ltd were named as co-accused for having conspired with Naik to promote enmity and hatred between different religious groups and insulting certain sects of Islam and other religions .

Naik had "deliberately" and "maliciously" insulted beliefs of Hindus, Christians and certain Muslim sects that did not subscribe to Wahhabism, with the intention to outrage religious feelings, and IRF and Harmony Media were instrumental in the circulation of incriminating speeches in the form of CDs/DVDs/TV programmes, the NIA said.

Naik, the chargesheet added, had delivered over 1,500 public lectures/talks in India and abroad since 1994. "In these lectures/QA sessions, Naik states that only Islam is the true religion. He also says that among the religious books of all religions, only Quran is in original form, all other religious texts have been corrupted. He publicly claims that all the other messengers, including Moses, Jesus as well as Sri Krishna, preached Islam. He criticises religious practices observed by other religions as well as non-Wahhabi Islamic sects such as Shias, Sufis and Barelvis, and terms them un-Islamic," the NIA said.

The police in Kannur, Kerala, have officially confirmed the death of five persons from the district who joined the Islamic State (IS) and went to Syria to wage “jihad”.

Police said the deaths were confirmed after the questioning of five people who were arrested from the district in the past few days for their suspected links with the Islamic State.

The deceased have been identified as Shahnad (25) of Chalad, Rishal (30) of Valapattanam, T.V. Shameer (45) and his son Salman (20) of Pappinissery, and Shajir of Eachur (25).

Police said as many as 15 people from the district have joined the IS so far. U.K. Hamza, who was arrested on October 26, indoctrinated them to join the network. Some of them are still in Syria.

On October 25, 2017, three Islamic State (IS or Daesh) cadres, identified as Midilaj K.C. (26), Rashid M.P. (23), and Abdul Razakh K. (24), were arrested by the Valapattanam Police in the Kannur District of Kerala. All three youth, who were natives of Kannur District, were arrested by the Police. They had been kept under surveillance since they returned to India some four months earlier (date not specified), from Turkey.

Police said that they (the arrestees) had gone to Turkey and stayed there for three to four months and had been captured by Turkish authorities while they were trying to cross the border to Syria. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Kannur, P.P. Sadanandan stated that the accused were duly sent back to India by the Turkish Police and the accused reached Mumbai (Maharashtra) from where they came back to Kannur: “It’s suspected they might have received IS training during their stay in Istanbul on their way to Syria.” Sadanandan further disclosed that the arrestees had “opted for different routes to enter Syria. While Midhilaj chose the Sharjah-Iran-Turkey route, Abdhul Razakh chose the Dubai-Iran-Turkey route and Rashid opted for the Malaysia-Iran-Turkey route.” They were arrested by the Turkish Police before they could cross over to Syria.

Again, on October 26, 2017, Kerala Police arrested another two Daesh cadres, identified as U.K. Hamsa aka Taliban Hamsa aka Biriyani Hamsa (57) and Manaf Rahman (42) from Thalassery in Kannur District. Hamsa was suspected to be the kingpin of the Daesh recruitment cell in the State and controlled Daesh-related activities in the Malabar region [which includes six northern districts of Kerala; Kasaragod, Kannur, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Palakkad and Wayanad]. Rahman had been under surveillance since he was stopped at Mangalore Airport (Karnataka) while trying to make his way to Syria, along with his family, including five children, in December 2016. DSP Sadanandan asserted that Manaf Rahman had decided to go to Syria to fight for IS after coming into contact with Hamsa.

On October 25, 2017, the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested two suspected Daesh cadres, identified as Mohammad Kasim Stimberwala and Ubed Ahmed Mirza, from Surat. The arrestees were reportedly planning terror attack in the State during the two-phase Gujarat Assembly Elections scheduled to be held on December 9 and 14, 2017. According to reports, they were planning an attack on a Jewish synagogue in the Khadia area of Ahmedabad in the ‘very near future’. According to officials, the duo were in constant contact with their Daesh handler Shafi Armar aka Zahed-al-Hindi and Abdullah el Faisal, a Jamaica-born Muslim cleric who faces Daesh-related terrorism charges in the US, through social media.

On October 24, 2017, the family of one of the four boys from Kalyan in Maharashtra, who left for Iraq to join IS in May 2014, had received a call from an anonymous caller from a foreign number that their son Fahad Tanvir Sheikh had been killed while fighting for Daesh in Raqqa, Syria, the preceding week (date not specified). Sheikh was the last active member of the cell, following the arrest of Areeb Majeed who returned to India voluntarily in November 2014; and the killing of Saheem Farooque Tanki (reportedly killed in al-Hasakah city in Syria in January 2015) and Aman Naim Tandel (reportedly killed in an airstrike at an unspecified location in Iraq in November 2016). The four boys were the first reported cases of Indians joining Daesh.

According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), at least 111 persons (six in 2014, 19 in 2015, 54 in 2016 and 32 in 2017) have been arrested and another 56 persons (nine in 2014, 31 in 2015, eight in 2016 and eight in 2017) have been detained in connection with their Daesh linkages across India, thus far (data till October 26, 2017). At least another 88 Indians (Kerala – 53, Karnataka – nine, Maharashtra – seven, Tamil Nadu – six, Telangana – five, Uttar Pradesh – four, Andhra Pradesh – two, Jharkhand – one, Jammu and Kashmir – one) are believed to have joined Daesh in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Of these 88, who have traveled to Daesh ‘territory’, 25 are confirmed killed while fighting for IS.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered at least 21 cases related to IS activities in different parts of the country, so far. The first such case was registered on November 28, 2014, based on the allegation that “some Indian youths had joined a banned terrorist organisation, the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) and waged war against Asiatic Powers in alliance with the Government of India and are likely to commit terrorist acts in India.” The case was registered against the four Kalyan youth who left the country in May 2014. NIA has submitted charge sheets in 14 of these cases. The number of charge sheeted persons in all these cases together stands at: 98. Of these, 65 have been arrested, while 33 are absconding. In a separate case, NIA charge-sheeted controversial preacher and the founder of Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), Zakir Naik, on October 26, 2017, for inciting youth to take up terrorist activities. Some of the youth who joined or attempted to join Daesh have claimed to have been ‘inspired by’ Naik, or have been linked to his organisations. According to the charge sheet, reportedly accessed by The Times of India,"Since he [Noor Mohammad] considered A-1 (Naik) an authority over Islamic viewpoint, he readily agreed to join the IS to fight jihad for them.” According to the charge sheet, Noor Mohammad, a witness, who was on his way to Syria to join the IS but later aborted the plan, told the NIA that he was influenced by Naik's oratory at 'peace conferences' organised by IRF in 2007 and 2008.

Data and investigations suggest that South India has emerged as a focus of Daesh-linked activities. Apart from attaining ‘numerical superiority’ in arrests and detentions, the region also has the dubious distinction of accounting for the largest number (21) of Indian IS recruits killed (25) fighting for the Daesh. Moreover, 15 of the 21 killed were from Kerala alone. Four of the 15 deceased were part of a group 21 persons, including six women and three children, who went missing from Kasaragod and Palakkad Districts in June 2016 and had reportedly joined Daesh in Afghanistan. They were reportedly killed in US drone attacks in the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan between February and July 2017. Another 11 Keralites were killed fighting in different parts of Syria and Afghanistan, while five persons from Karnataka and one from Telangana were also killed. While two of the five from Karnataka were killed in Syria, there is no information about the location of killing of the remaining three. The person from Telangana was reportedly killed in Syria. Apart from South India, three persons from Maharashtra have been killed fighting for Daesh in Syria (two) and Iraq (one). One person from Uttar Pradesh has been killed in Syria.

Large scale non-violent radicalisation of Muslim youth and the association of a significant number with Daesh in the southern states such as Kerala, from where large numbers of migrants works in Gulf countries, have created enormous security vulnerabilities. Several Kerala youth who were working in different Gulf countries have also reportedly been radicalised and allegedly recruited to Daesh. During the interrogation of three Kerlalites who were arrested on October 25, 2017, it was also discovered that some of the youth who joined IS were part of the 'Bahrain Salafi group', a Kerala group propagating Daesh’s extreme ideology. The authorities also worry that the number of Keralites who have joined IS could be much higher than official estimates, which are based on documented cases of missing persons.

Despite this, the lone violent incident which has so far been linked to Daesh in India was the March 7, 2017, train blast. According to the NIA case (No. RC-04/2017/NIA/DLI), preliminary investigations indicate the involvement of active members of IS in the low-intensity blast that took place in Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train at Jabri railway station in Madhya Pradesh on March 7, 2017, injuring 10 passengers. In the following 12-hour long anti-terror operation, an alleged IS-inspired terrorist, Mohammed Saifullah aka Ali, was killed by the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) in the Thakurganj area in the outskirts of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh on March 8, 2017. At least six others were arrested: three from Hoshangabad District of Madhya Pradesh and another three from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. Investigations suggest that Saifullah had also been tasked with securing arms and training facilities for a new IS-linked terror module in Uttar Pradesh.

Daesh has, thus, failed to make any deep inroads in India. Nevertheless, the recent arrests occur at a time when IS is losing its strongholds – including its ‘headquarters’ at Raqqa – in Syria and Iraq. According to the recent (October 2017) report of the Soufan Group, after the IS ‘caliphate’ began to lose its territory in both Syria and Iraq, more than 5,600 foreign fighters returned to their respective homelands. Though the report has not mentioned any number of Indian returnees, it disclosed that around 75 Indian fighters were believed to have joined the IS ‘caliphate’.

However, Iraqi envoy to India, Fakhri H. Al Issa, stated on July 19, 2017,

….We know that at least 12 to 15 Indians were among the large number of foreign fighters who fought against our security forces during the ongoing operations in Iraq…. Foreign fighters often were killed and many managed to escape… We feel that some of the Indian fighters might have escaped and returned home in the way many foreign fighters returned home in Europe...

Indian authorities are concerned. A July 13, 2017, report noted that NIA had sent a list of people who left the country, possibly to join Daesh, to Immigration departments at airports across the country. Though the list does not reveal the total number of such people, it includes at least 183 youth from Kerala - 88 from Kasaragod, 33 from Kannur, 28 from Malappuram, 19 from Kozhikode, six from Kollam and five from Palakkad. There was no information about the remaining five on the list. Of these 183, 95 were believed to have gone to Afghanistan and rest were suspected to have gone to Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. Further, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had issued a ‘Red-corner notice’ to immigration departments at the airports across the country. Indian embassies in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran and UAE (United Arab Emirates) have been told to remain on high alert while issuing documents, especially to those claiming to have lost their passports.

Further, S.K. Chhikara, Joint Secretary (Internal Security), Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA), stated on October 25, 2017, that “the NIA investigation is on to probe their [more than 50 Indian nationals who joined IS in the Middle East after the group’s emergence in 2014] whereabouts. The NIA must contact the families of those who left for countries such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan to join IS, whose so-called ‘caliphate’ was collapsing due to sustained military assaults.”

The October 2017 arrests and the preceding surveillance of the Daesh returnees, demonstrate that Indian intelligence and enforcement agencies are well aware of the risks constituted by the trickle of beaten terrorists returning to their home country. There is, clearly, no alarming threat from Daesh in India as suggested by some commentators. Nevertheless, individual or small groups of returnees do have the potential to orchestrate incidents of violence, or to spread their extremist ideologies among vulnerable elements within their own communities. It is, consequently, imperative that the Indian security establishment remains vigilant to thwart any incipient threat in context of the collapse of Daesh in its areas of dominance, and the potential for mischief by surviving elements, including Indian returnees.

KUALA LUMPUR (REUTERS) - When Zakir Naik emerged from a prominent Malaysian mosque last month fans swarmed about him, seeking selfies with the Indian Muslim televangelist whose hardline views have sparked a criminal investigation back in his home country.

Accompanied by a bodyguard, Naik was making a rare public appearance at the Putra Mosque in Malaysia's administrative capital, where the prime minister and his cabinet members often pray.

Naik, who has been banned in Britain, has been given permanent residency in Malaysia, and embraced by top government officials.

Critics see Naik's presence in Malaysia as another sign of top-level support for hardline Islam in a country with substantial minorities of Christians, Hindus and Buddhists, and which has long projected a moderate Islamic image.

Support for a more politicised Islam has grown in recent years under Prime Minister Najib Razak, especially after he lost the popular vote in the 2013 general election - the ruling coalition's worst-ever electoral performance.

Since then, his ruling party has been trying to appease an increasingly conservative ethnic Malay-Muslim base and religion has become a battleground ahead of elections the prime minister has to call by mid-2018.

Naik, a 52-year-old medical doctor, has aroused controversy with his puritan brand of Islam - recommending the death penalty for homosexuals and those who abandon Islam as their faith, according to media reports. A Youtube video shows Naik saying that if Osama bin Laden "is terrorising America the terrorist, the biggest terrorist, I am with him".

Last week, India's counter-terrorism agency prepared charges against Naik, saying he has been "promoting enmity and hatred between different religious groups in India through public speeches and lectures." Bangladesh suspended Peace TV channel, which features Naik's preachings, after some media reports claimed bombers of a Dhaka cafe that killed 22 people last year were admirers of him. Terror group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Malaysian government accommodates Naik because "he remains a reasonably popular character amongst Malays, who gloss over his more controversial aspects," said Mr Rashaad Ali, an analyst with S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore.

"If the government were to kick him out of the country, it causes them to lose religious credibility in the eyes of the public."

At his appearance at the Putra mosque last month, a female Reuters reporter asked about the investigation in India. Naik would only say: "Sorry, it is not right for me to speak with ladies in public." Naik did not respond to subsequent requests for comment from Reuters.

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told parliament on Tuesday (Oct 31) that Naik, who obtained permanent residency five years ago, was not being given "preferential treatment".

"Over the time spent in this country, he has not broken any laws or regulations. As such, there is no reason from a legal standpoint to detain or arrest him," Datuk Seri Zahid said. The government has not received any official request from India "related to terrorism allegations involving him", he added.

Mr Zahid and the prime minister have both posted photos on Facebook of their meetings with Naik last year in Malaysia.

A group of Malaysian activists has filed suit in the High Court to deport Naik, saying he is a threat to public peace in the multi-racial society - about 40 per cent of Malaysia's population is non-Muslim. The group said it was unaware Naik had been going to the Putrajaya mosque - or where he might be in Malaysia.

Officials at the Putra Mosque said Naik has been attending Friday prayers there for about a month. He has also been spotted in other mosques, hospitals and restaurants in the administrative capital in recent months, according to witnesses that Reuters spoke to.

Naik has in the past denied India's allegations. In an interview with a Kuwaiti television channel in May, he said he was being targeted by the Hindu nationalist government of Narendra Modi because of his popularity.

Malaysia's opposition Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), which has defended Naik in the past, last week urged the government to disregard any potential Indian extradition request, saying the allegations aim "to block his influence and efforts to spread religious awareness among the international community."

Islamic groups have stoked controversy for trying to impose their ethos in a multi-cultural country. Malaysian authorities cancelled a planned beer festival last month, citing security concerns, and for some years now international pop stars who wish to make appearances in Malaysia face restrictions over clothing and dancing.

Islam is the official religion in Malaysia. The laws, however, are secular, though the country does have syariah courts for civil cases for Muslims.

Malaysia's nine sultans, who take turns as the mostly ceremonial monarch and are the official guardians of Islam in Malaysia, last month called for unity and religious harmony after what they described as "excessive actions" in the name of Islam. One of them harshly condemned a Muslim-only launderette.

"We are seeing this gravitation towards fundamentalism and a conservative idea of Islam because the current government doesn't want to be seen as secular anymore," said Ahmad Farouk Musa, founder of a moderate Islam think-tank, Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF).

To ensure Malay support, the government thinks it has "to have Islamic credentials just like PAS," Mr Farouk told Reuters.

In September, Turkish writer Mustafa Akyol was detained for giving "an unauthorised speech" in the Malaysian capital, in which he argued that governments shouldn't police religion or morality.

Mr Zahid, also the home minister, said Mr Akyol's book"Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty" has been banned as it "contravened norms of the society in Malaysia".

Mr Farouk, who organised the speech, said he now faces charges for abetting Akyol.

The police have released photos and details of five youths from the district who have left for Syria to fight for the Islamic State (IS).

The disclosure by the police followed the recent arrest of five suspected Islamic State operatives in the district; three of them had been deported by the Turkish authorities after they were captured while crossing the border to Syria.

Deaths confirmed

The police had recently confirmed the death of five others who had gone to Syria as IS fighters.

The five IS fighters from Kannur who are still in Syria have been identified as Abdul Khayyoom (25) of Chekkikulam, near Kuttyattur; Abdul Manaf P.P. (30); Shabeer Muhammed Shafi (33) of Mooppanpara, near Valapattanam; his relative Suhail (18); and Safwan (17), resident of Pazhanjirapally in Pappinissery.

Deaths confirmed

Last week the police had confirmed the death of Safwan’s brother Salman and father T.V. Shameer in Syria {So, the whole family is in to jihad} , who were among the five confirmed to have died in Syria.

Mr. Sadanandan, who is involved in an investigation in IS-related cases in the district, said though the police had information about their travel to Syria to join the IS, it was confirmed during the interrogation of the five suspected IS operatives arrested last week.

The arrested included U.K. Hamza of Thalassery, who is believed to be the main recruiter of the network.

Now in police custody, the arrested would be questioned to get more details about the IS module here and its activities, he said. The police said the families of four of the five youths identified as IS workers fighting in Syria were also in that country. {Again, family jihad}

The police are trying to get more details about the families, they said.

Khayyoom had gone to Syria on April 18, 2017 from India while Abdul Manaf had left for Syria using a fake passport. He was a close associate of Shahjahan Velluvan Kandy (32), an IS operative who was arrested in Delhi in July following his deportation by Turkey.

Manaf had met Shahjahan and his group of IS fighters in Istanbul, the police said. Suhail had reached Syria from Dubai last year, the police said.

The police also said that the five youths were workers of the Popular Front of India (PFI).

Iranian intelligence officials released an alleged lieutenant of al-Qaeda’s South Asia chief from prison after learning that he was a jihadist fighting against US-led forces in Afghanistan, documents accessed by The Indian Express have revealed.

The testimony was provided by Muhammad Asif, a resident of Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh who is now being tried in New Delhi, but it was never made public because of its potentially damaging diplomatic repercussions. “Efforts were made to seek details on Asif’s case from Tehran. Iran did not come back to us with anything. Iranian cooperation is important for India to secure its interests in Afghanistan, so we chose not to make an issue of this matter,” a senior government official involved in the case said.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has decided to send a team to Manila in the Philippines to interrogate a notorious woman recruiter for the Islamic State (IS) terror group, Karen Aisha Hamidon, who radicalised several Indians in the last three years through social media. Sources said the NIA was already in touch with investigators in Manila following her arrest last month.

A proposal for the planned visit would be sent soon through the ministry of home affairs. Officials feel Hamidon's interrogation could provide crucial leads about other Indian "foreign fighters" who may have joined IS since 2014 and more recruiters radicalising Indian youths through platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook etc.

TOI had first reported on October 21+ that Hamidon, whose name is mentioned in two NIA chargesheets as an "online motivator", was arrested by the Philippines' National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). It was the NIA that first found out about her activities and informed the Filipino authorities last year.

The development comes even as Hamidon reportedly claimed before the department of justice in Manila on Friday that she was being "framed". According to reports in Manila-based newspapers, Hamidon told reporters she was just a "blogger" and a "Muslim missionary" against whom false accusations had been levelled by police.

"I'm into journalistic articles, composition, and a writer ... I'm an Islamic propagator, I'm a Muslim missionary, the counterpart of a Christian missionary. I only use the social media as my avenue to spread the message of Islam for religious purposes, for maximum audiences," she said, "They (police) have already sensationalised my story because I have reached the pinnacle of international notoriety with the usage of the social media."

The NBI has reportedly recovered from Hamidon, the wife of a slain leader of Ansarul Khalifa Philippines (AKP), Mohammad Jaafar Maguid, several chats and messages propagating IS activities, and electronic evidence showing her association with many suspected terrorists. The NIA is hoping to get this evidence from the Philippines.

The NBI has charged Hamidon on 14 counts of violations of Article 138 (inciting a rebellion or insurrection) of the Revised Penal Code and Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 of the Philippines. In its judicial request last year to the Philippines, the NIA had provided her address as Diego Shilang village in Taguig City, Metro Manila, her phone numbers, her identity as Karen Aisha Al-Muslimah, and her online ID as @KarenAishaHamidon.

India has asked Singapore to provide details of a 39-year-old man, who went to Syria with his family in January 2014, and continued to motivate and recruit men in Tamil Nadu to fight for the Islamic State.

The accused identified as Haja Fakkurudeen, a Singapore citizen, originally from Cuddalore district in Tamil Nadu, has figured several times in police records in investigations of young men inclined towards the Islamist organisation.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has sent a request to Singapore under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty for information on Fakkurudeen. The agency has also requested the Interpol to issue a Red Notice against him. On September 21, the NIA arrested two people — Khaja Moideen alias Abdullah Muthalif and Shakul Hameed — who were allegedly recruited and motivated by Fakkurudeen. Moideen, who has several cases registered against him was in jail when the NIA arrested him in the said case. Hameed was deported from Turkey in 2015 after he was intercepted by Turkish authorities when he was trying to cross over into the IS controlled territory in Syria.

Though nine suspects including Mr. Fakkurudeen were under watch since Hameed was deported, the NIA suo motu registered a case on January 26. As per Moideen’s interrogation report accessed by The Hindu , Mr. Fakkurudeen, who had migrated to Singapore, used to visit Tamil Nadu frequently and discussed developments in Syria as early as November 2013. Moideen is learnt to have told NIA that he discouraged Fakkurudeen from going to Syria.

The Uttar Pradesh police have arrested an Azamgarh-resident on the suspicion of plotting terror attacks in the country.

The suspect, identified as Abu Zaid, was arrested by a team of the UP Anti-Terror Squad from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport in Mumbai on Saturday night.

Zaid was returning from Saudi Arabia, the ATS said.

According to the ATS, Zaid, who was living in Saudi Arabia, induced and mobilised members in India for a terror module.

Zaid's name came into light, an ATS spokesperson said, during investigation of the four youths who were arrested in an premptive operation from different parts of the country in April.

"Solid evidence" of Zaid's culpability in organising members for terror activities was "found from the mobiles of the arrested perons," the ATS spokesperson said.

The ATS had issued a look-out notice against Zaid, who is a native of Ghambirpur, Azamgarh in East Uttar Pradesh.

Police alleged that the members of the group would communicate with each other on the internet through an application and were preparing for a terror incident.

Zaid will now face charges under Sections 120 B, 121A, 153, 123 and 122B of the IPC and Section 18 of the UA(P)A along with the other four.

Two Singaporeans have been detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for terrorism-related activities, the latest in a trickle of such arrests here [Singapore].

One of them, Abu Thalha Samad, 25, is a member of terror group Jemaah Islamiah (JI), said the Ministry of Home Affairs in a statement on Thursday (Nov 9).

The Ministry said he had been educated in JI-linked schools in the region, where he also received paramilitary training

In 2014, he took an oath of allegiance and became a JI member.

"He understood it to mean that he was duty-bound to carry out whatever instructions the JI leaders had for him, including performing armed jihad and sacrificing his life for the JI's violent cause," the ministry said.

Since 2016, he had been teaching at a JI-linked school. But in August this year, the ministry said it worked with a "regional government" to deport Abu Thalha back to Singapore, where he was issued a two-year detention order in September.

The Ministry declined to disclosed the country where he was, but it is understood the JI terror group is active in Indonesia.

The second Singaporean is a 38-year-old housewife, Munavar Baig Amina Begam, a naturalised citizen from India.

The ministry said she was a supporter of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror group, and had intended to travel to the Middle East to join ISIS.

"Amina was radicalised by a foreign online contact, who shared with her pro-ISIS materials, and convinced her that ISIS was fighting to defend Sunnis in the conflict zone," said the Ministry, adding that she was prepared to undergo military training and take up arms and fight for ISIS.

Amina, who was detained for two years this month, had also influenced others by sharing materials promoting terrorism on social media.

She is the second woman to be detained under the ISA for terrorism-related activities.

The first was infantcare assistant Syaikhah Izzah Zahrah Al Ansari, 22, who was arrested in June. She had planned to travel to Syria to be a "martyr's widow".

Another Singaporean, former full-time national serviceman Adzrul Azizi Bajuri has been issued a restriction order after he was radicalised to ISIS propaganda online.

The order limits the 19-year-old's activities and requires him to undergo religious counselling.

The ministry said he had come across ISIS-related videos in 2014 when watching videos related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Although he had considered fighting for the group, he started "having some doubts about the legitimacy of ISIS ideology and its violent tactics" in August.

Meanwhile, the ministry also said a separate restriction order against former Moro Islamic Liberation Front member Mustafa Kamal Mohammad had been allowed to lapse in September, as the 62-year-old had been rehabilitated.

The five persons arrested on charges of plotting terror attacks got in touch and organised themselves using a range of social media applications, an Uttar Pradesh police officer has said.

Abu Zaid {see earlier post above}, the alleged ideologue of the radicalised group who was nabbed from the Mumbai airport on November 3, has told investigators that the members coordinated through Facebook, Threema and Telegram applications among other means of communication.

Giving details of the timeline of the alleged terror plot, Aseem Arun, Inspector-General, Anti-Terror Squad, said Zaid, 32, started leaning towards “jihad” after he befriended some “jihadi-minded” people on Facebook and began reading books recommended by them. “He would follow jihad related videos and posts on Facebook, and would enjoy them a lot,” said Mr. Arun. In February, Zaid befriended Nazim alias Umar, a resident of Bijnore who was living in Mumbai then, through another App, Telegram, the police said.

Nazim was among the four persons arrested from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab and Maharashtra in April in a pre-emptive operation by the police of various States.

Recruitment drive

Zaid had already come in touch with another accused Ghazi Baba through Facebook. The three then started communicating on Threema, a secure messaging application, and created a group on social media where they uploaded jihadi video and literature, the police said.

They also communicated with one another on the dynamics of their “jihad,” recruiting new members and collecting funds for buying weapons, Mr. Arun said. The police have charged Zaid with trying to attract youths towards “IS and other Islamist groups.”

The ATS has sent Zaid’s mobile phone for investigation as he had deleted all data when he panicked on hearing the news of the arrest of his co-accused in April, the officer said.

Zaid had started living in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2009 after going there on a work visa. However, the firm he was employed in was not doing well and he was desperate to return home. Assessing that things had calmed down, he thought of coming back and that was when he was nabbed by the ATS at Mumbai airport, said Mr. Arun. The U.P. ATS, which brought Zaid to Lucknow on transit remand, is still questioning him.

The accused in the case have been booked under Sections 120 B, 121A, 153, 123 and 122B of the IPC and Section 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Activities Act. The police claim that Zaid was the main ideologue of the group. Jakhvan was allegedly the group’s financier.

About 100 Keralites are suspected to have joined the Islamic State over the years, police said here on Saturday.

The Kerala Police has collected evidence in this regard, including over 300 voice clips and messages from WhatsApp, telegram messaging applications and other social media platforms, sources here told PTI.

The latest proof was an audio clip from a woman, wherein she can be heard informing her kin here about the death of her husband, who had joined IS. The woman can be heard saying her husband Shajil was killed recently in the ‘jihadi war’. According to the audio clip, she and her two children are still in Syria, the sources said.

The woman can be heard telling her kin that many Keralite women, who have lost their husbands, and their children are in Syria, they said. The voice clip was received by Shajil’s brother. Police have another audio clip from one Qayoom, whose photos in the IS uniform are available on the Internet, the source said.

Three men with suspected links with IS were arrested in the district on October 25. The trio, who had left Kerala years ago, were suspected to have visited Syria and reportedly received training from the terror outfit, police said.

Police had also seized photocopies of tickets and visa, proving that they visited Syria, the source added. The arrested were identified as Mithilaj, Abdul Razzak and Rashid, all of whom belonged to the district.

The National Investigation Agency is probing cases of disappearance of at least 21 people who had left Kerala under mysterious circumstances over a period of time and are suspected to have joined IS. Among them, 17 are from Kasaragod and four from Palakkad. They include four women and three children.

A recent audio clip transmitted via Telegram app by an Islamic State recruiter who travelled from Kerala to Afghanistan has raised fears about lonewolf strikes as the tape calls for attacks on Hindu religious congregations such as Kumbh or the Thrissur Pooram. The IS recruiter is from Kasargod and asks Indian Muslims to launch attacks by driving a truck through devotees — mimicking similar IS inspired assaults in the West — or poisoning food.

The voice has been identified as that of Abdul Rashid alias Abdulla Abdul Rashid, the prime accused in the Kasargod Islamic State case being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The case relates to 21 'radicalised' Keralites, the host, including women and children, who left in 2016 to perform hijra (religious journey) to Islamic State-controlled Nangarhar province in Afghanistan. The NIA has already filed a chargesheet against 15. Of them, one is in judicial custody and 14 others like Rashid are absconding.

"Yes, the voice in the clip is indeed that of Abdul Rashid. This has been verified by the NIA with the help of his friends here and also matches with the voice in around 18-20 clips sent by him earlier, which we had analysed," said an NIA officer.

Sources said Rashid's past clips had called on Indian Muslims to perform hijra to an IS-controlled territory, claiming how those who had done so were leading a comfortable and contended life there.

However, Rashid's latest clip asks youths to stage attacks within India. "If you cannot do the hijra, then you should help the jihad using your wealth. If that too does not materialise, go for attack against the idolators and disbelievers. Use your intellect. Poison their food. Use trucks," he says, reflecting a realisation that travel to shrinking IS territory may not be possible.

"Islamic State Mujahideen are doing it in several parts of the world. In Las Vegas, one of our supporters killed many people at a music concert. At least you should try to derail a train. Or use a knife," Rashid can be heard in the clip as saying. No jihadi link has emerged with the Las Vegas shooting. The NIA sees the latest clip as as evidence of desperation. "It seems he is under pressure from the IS as there have been no further migrations from India," said an officer.

The next Kumbh event, the Ardh Kumbh Mela, is due to be held only in 2019 at Prayag. Thrissur Pooram, however, is held every year and is due in April 2018. According to sources, Rashid had in May 2017 created two Whatsapp groups, one with 212 members and another with 249 participants.

SITE Intel Group, an online terror tracker site, has claimed that Islamic State-backed news agency Amaq took responsibility for the November 17, 2017 Zakura attack in Srinagar, which left one local militant Mugees Mir and a sub-inspector dead.

The security agencies in Kashmir are yet to confirm Mir’s links with the terror outfit that mainly operates in Syria and Iraq. According to the police, Mir was affiliated to the militant faction headed by Zakir Musa.

It’s first casualty inflicted on the group of Musa, who claims to head the al-Qaeda chapter, Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, in Kashmir. Musa split from the Hizbul Mujahideen earlier this year.

One militant, Tauseef Ahmad, was also arrested during the operation in Zakura.

Meanwhile, a Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen spokesman claimed the militant belonged to his group and was “a district commander”. He said Mir was “no way affiliated to Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind and al-Qaeda links are been established to malign the Kashmir struggle”.

However, black flags, similar to the ones of the Islamic State, were seen displayed during Mir’s funeral on November 18. In fact, Mir’s body was also wrapped in the black flag as his supporters raised pro-Islam and pro-freedom slogans.

Around 100 'radicalised' Indians have joined the Islamic State (IS) terror group so far and travelled to IS-controlled territories in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The numbers are seen by the security establishment here as no more than a speck in context of the country's large population and also that of its Muslims.

According to the latest assessment by the intelligence apparatus, while 50 citizens have left India since 2014 to join IS, the remaining 50 are members of the diaspora who left for IS-held lands from their respective countries of residence, mostly in the Gulf.

"The limited number of recruits that IS has been able to draw out from India, vis-a-vis other countries in the West, shows that its aggressive online propaganda has failed to 'radicalise' Indian Muslims to an extent that they are willing to leave their families and country and join its global jihad to create a 'caliphate'. A hundred recruits, of which only 50 were Indian residents, is minuscule not only in proportion to the large Indian population but also as a percentage of the country's large Muslim community," a home ministry official said.

However, even though the recruitment of Indians into IS is low, there is still a lot of interest among the youth in its online propaganda and resources. This is borne out by the online searches related to IS tracked by various central and state agencies in the recent past.

Surfing through IS-related content is relatively higher in southern states like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, as well as in Maharashtra, although there is also a lot of online interest in IS among J&K youths.

'The J&K youth drawn to IS are at various stages of radicalisation," an intelligence operative said. Incidentally, the maximum migration of IS followers from India has been from Kerala.

While 21 Keralites, mostly from Kasaragod, left the country last year and took the circuitous route through Gulf countries and Iran to reach Nangarhar, Afghanistan, IS sympathiser Shajahan VK, deported from Turkey in July, had told the NIA that 17 others, including women and children, from the state were in Iraq-Syria.

According to an officer, more worrying than IS influence among Indians is the systematic 'radicalisation' of some youths by domestic outfits such as Popular Front of India (PFI).

Sources said PFI, so far most active in Kerala, TN and Karnataka, is quietly expanding its presence to Assam, West Bengal, UP and Rajasthan. PFI has been organising public meetings in various states to raise issues affecting Muslims.

However, on the sidelines of these meetings, its headhunters allegedly scout for 'radicalised' elements. The government is working on a proposal to declare PFI an 'unlawful association'.

US intelligence agencies have alerted their Indian counterparts on a possible lone-wolf attack threat from the so called Islamic State(IS) during Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) 2017 which will be attended by US president Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka.

A top official of Telangana police told TOI, "The US has issued possible threat perceptions to the GES Summit and Ivanka. Though there is no specific alert, as advised by US, we are working to prevent a possible lone wolf attack by IS-motivated individuals."

Following the alert, the Intelligence Bureau and Telangana Counter Intelligence Cell are keeping close tabs on around 200 suspects in and around Hyderabad who earlier had terror links or had shown symptoms of Jihadiideology.

At least eight US Secret Service officials would be guarding a closed protection team (CPT) of Ivanka. Three limousines which are mine and bullet resistant have already arrived for Ivanka's movement in the city.

Apart from CPT, security liaison officers and advanced security liaison officers are also on the job. "Ivanka's security will be provided by US Secret Service agents and the SPG will take care of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's security.

Telangana intelligence security wing will form the next layer of security. Apart from these, Greyhounds and Octopus personnel will be used in combing operations and ready assault teams.

Local police will form the outer cover," the official said. In all, around 10,400 policemen have been deployed for GES security. "We have taken into account minute details like Ivanka's height while planning her security," theofficial said. The Telangana police have with them special equipment acquired recently from Israel in addition to the existing anti-sabotage and anti-explosive equipment.

Shafin Jahan, husband of Akhila Asokan alias Hadiya, was allegedly in touch with two key chargesheeted accused in the terror group Islamic State (IS) Omar al-Hindi case — Manseed and P Safvan — via a closed Facebook group comprising activists of Popular Front of India (PFI)'s political arm SDPI, as well as a popular messaging application, during the months preceding his marriage to Hadiya, an NIA probe has found.

Manseed and Safvan, arrested in October last year, have been chargesheeted by the NIA in the Omar case. The case relates to criminal conspiracy by members of an IS-inspired group to target high court judges, police officers and political leaders as well as places in south India.

The NIA believes it was Manseed and his SDPI associates, including Muneer, a friend of Shafin, and not the matrimonial website waytonikah.com, that brought Hadiya and Shafin together so as to 'arrange' their alliance. Manseed, according to NIA sources, was known to Sainaba, Hadiya's court-appointed guardian at the time of her marriage, through the PFI/SDPI network.

The NIA probe found that Manseed and Safvan were in contact with Shafin, "an active worker of SDPI and a district committee member of SDPI's student wing Campus Front during his college days", on a messaging/social media app as well as closed Facebook group of SDPI activists called 'Thanal'. Manseed and Shafin were not only members of Facebook group 'SDPI Keralam' but also part of its administrative panel.

Shafin was associated with 'Access', a career guidance group based in Kozhikode, as a mentor while Sainaba was with the same group as a counsellor. Muneer too shared this association with 'Access'.

The NIA probe found contradictions in Hadiya and Shafin's claims before the Kerala high court that their marriage was arranged through matrimonial website waytonikah.com. According to sources, Shafin had registered on the website on September 19, 2015, while Sainaba registered the names of Hadiya and her own daughter, Fathima Thesni, on April 17, 2016. As per NIA's report, Shafin's marriage proposal had come through Muneer in August 2016. "During this time, Shafin was in touch with Manseed and Safvan," a NIA officer said.

Md Mosiuddin alias Abu Musa, the ISIS operative undergoing trial at an NIA court, tried to slit the throat of a guard with a knife inside Alipore central jail on Sunday. Musa, 27, trained to slash throat in ISIS style, was arrested last year along with two others for trying to execute a plan of killing people in Birbhum.

Cells are unlocked and inmates are taken out to the jail ground every morning. Musa was in cell number 13 - a solitary one. "It was around 7am when warden Gobinda Chandra Dey (45) opened the lock of his cell. Musa hit him on the head with a stone.

As Dey fell on the ground he jumped on him and took out a sharp weapon and tried to slit his throat," said a prison official. While other guards and prison inmates were startled, one inmate managed to hold Musa's hands from behind. By the time he was pinned down on the floor, Dey was bleeding from the throat. He was taken to SSKM hospital and then, to a nursing home.

"The attack was sudden. There was no past record of violent behaviour of Musa in the jail," said Ujjwal Biswas, minister of correctional home of the state.

"He will be put in solitary confinement and we have initiated a probe to find out how he got hold of the piece of metal," said Arun Kumar Gupta, DG & IG Correctional Services.

Musa was arrested in July last year at Burdwan station. Cops seized a firearm and a knife from him. After CID took over the case, investigators found out that Musa was planning to kill people in Birbhum. He had confessed that he was in touch with some IS handlers since 2014 through various chat platforms and networking sites and apps. Gradually, he had recruited a few members in India and became their handler.

In its final chargesheet, the NIA mentioned that Musa along with his aides planned to "send a signal" about the presence of IS in India. They had also identified locations where they could attack foreign tourists.

A media channel aligned to the Islamic State in Khorasan province recently released a photograph claiming that an Indian “fighter,” identified as Abu Ishaq Al Hindi, was killed in Afghanistan.

Govt. suspicious

A senior government official said the timing of the release was suspicious as the person whose photograph was released was Kerala resident Kunnath Thodik Shibi, who is said to have been killed in June. Shibi was one of the 21 men, women and children from Kerala who had made their way to the IS-controlled Khorasan province last year.

The official told The Hindu that Shakeer, the elder brother of Shibi, received a message from Bexen Vincent alias Easa, another Kerala resident in Afghanistan, that Shibi was killed in a battle with security forces.

On December 2, Terrormonitor.org, a EU-based non-profit watchdog that tracks the online activities of terror groups including the IS, uploaded the poster released by “Pro-Islamic State’s Khorasan province media,” announcing the killing of “Indian fighter Abu Ishaq Al Hindi.” The official said Abu Ishaq Al Hindi would have been Shibi’s nom de guerre ( kunya ), and he assumed the name after reaching Afghanistan. Shibi is said to have left India between May and June 2016 from Palakkad to join the IS in Afghanistan. A red corner notice was issued against him in February this year.

“Shibi’s picture was also included in a martyrs’ video released three months ago by Abdul Rashid Abdullah, another absconding member of the group. The timing of the release of the photograph is extremely suspicious,” the official said.

In the photograph, Shibi has unkempt, long hair and is seen wearing an olive green jacket, with mountains in the background.

Messages scanned

With no information coming from Afghan authorities, the Indian agencies scan the messages released on various IS platforms.

A Kerala resident, who was said to have been killed in a battle with the American forces in Afghanistan earlier this year, sent a message to his family in the last week of October that he was not dead. Bestin Vincent, a resident of Palakkad, converted to Islam, assumed the name of Yahya and escaped to Afghanistan with his wife Merrin alias Mariam to live in the IS-controlled territory. Both Vincent and Merrin converted after their marriage.

On April 29, B.C Rehman, a relative of Mohammad Hafeezuddin, another absconding youth killed in a drone attack last year, received a message that Vincent was killed in fighting with the American forces. The message sent on WhatsApp by Ashfak Majeed, who was also part of the group that travelled to Afghanistan, said: “Yahya [Bestin], whom you all consider a Jew, have become martyr Inshaallah. It was in the frontline of war against American Kufrs [infidels].”

An official of the National Investigation Agency said the authorities were yet to hear anything from Afghan officials. Another Kerala resident, Murshid Mohammad, is also said to have been killed in a drone attack last year. On April 18, a Afghanistan-based news agency said 13 Indians were killed in the Massive Ordnance Air Blast attack by the U.S military in Achin district, but the claim was corroborated neither by the NIA nor by the kin.