Centre has alerted Kerala of the imminent move

The Centre has alerted Kerala that a dormant module of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) having links with the Islamic State (IS) militia may be planning to recruit fighters for strife-torn Syria and Iraq.

Sources said the IM’s links with the IS had come to light after the death of Muhammed Sajjid aka Bada Sajjid, an IM operative accused in the Delhi bomb blast case of 2008. He was killed during a shelling in Syria last month.

The IM had been dormant in the country after the arrest of some of its top leaders such as Yasin Bhatkal, T.A. Shibili and Safdar Nagori. There were others from Kerala as well who had links with Indian Mujahideen and Jam-I-yyathuk Ansurul Muslimeen. IM men behind bars include Thadiyanvide Nazir aka Ummer Haji, Umar Farooq, and Ibrahim Moulavi.

However, intelligence sources said many absconders, including Ayub and Shoaib from Kannur and Shuhaib from Parappangadi, wanted in terror-linked cases, may have joined the IS using new names and identities.

Sources said the case of two missing Keralites from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar a few months ago had increased suspicion that radicalised Kerala youths were joining the IS militants. Intelligence agencies had already traced the identity of Abu Thahir, who had left his home at Puduppariyaram, near Palakkad, for Qatar, two years ago. But the Indian consulate in Qatar had no clue if he had reached the Emirate, even as his Facebook page remained active for long after he was reported missing.

Another is an unnamed Keralite youth hailing from Kunnummal in Kozhikode district. He has been missing from Ras-al-Khaimah in UAE for the past four months

Sources said that a Keralite’s name figured in the radar of intelligence agencies after the detention of Indian Mujahideen sympathisers in Saudi Arabia. It was unclear whether he was still alive, sources said.

Significantly, neither of them had been associated with any religious fundamentalist outfits in the State.