IS-linked contact of source said he was killed in bombings by Americans

Rashid Abdulla, who led a 21-member group from this district that migrated to Afghanistan to fight for the Islamic State (IS), is believed to have been killed, according to a source who accessed a message from an IS-linked contact in that country.

Rashid Abdulla, a native of Udumbanchola at Trikkaripur here, who had migrated to the IS’s stronghold in Afghanistan in May-June 2016, along with others, including wife Ayesha, was believed to have been killed nearly two months ago, the source, who had access to the Telegram account of Abdulla, said. The account had been silent for sometime, he said. When the source had sent the question ‘What happened to Rashid?’ to the account, he got the reply ‘He is no more.’

The source said the sender of the message informed that Abdulla was among those killed in ‘random bombing’ by ‘the Americans’ a month ago. The message also informed that ‘Total 3 Indian brothers, 2 Indian ladies and 4 kids got killed.’ It was not known whether members of Rashid’s parents, who are living in the Gulf, were aware of the message, the source said.

Abdulla, an engineering graduate, had been an employee of the Peace International School set up by Salafi preacher M.M. Akbar. Indoctrinated by the IS ideology, he had sent over 90 audio clips through various accounts on Telegram app to draw more recruits to the IS. He was also believed to have taken over the leadership of IS Kerala module after the killing of Shajeer Mangalassery Abdulla, an engineering graduate from Kozhikode, in Afghanistan.