A "large number" of Indian nationals have joined the Islamic State (IS) and are fighting alongside other IS fighters in Iraq and Syria. Interacting for the first time with an Indian media organisation, a high ranking IS commander confirmed to The Sunday Guardian the presence of Indian nationals in its ranks. The IS commander, Abu Hudhaifah, who is the Raees-le-Shoon, Al-Mujahideen (head of immigrants affair) of the outfit, said that they were getting active support from certain India based organisations that shared the IS' objective of establishing a "global khilafah (caliphate)". Hudhaifah also claimed that IS chief Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi was alive, thus refuting reports that Al-Baghdadi may have been killed in a United States led air-strike.

Writing to The Sunday Guardian from Iraq's Mosul, which was taken over by the ISIS in June, Abu Hudhaifah said that while it was not possible to give the exact number of Indians who were fighting the global jihad as part of the IS, but their number was "very large".

"It is hard to give you the exact number of Indian nationals fighting along with us as they are not concentrated in one particular region, but distributed in different parts of Iraq and Syria, but the number is very large." Hudhaifah wrote. "I have personally met Indian Mujahideen who are from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Punjab. Some of the Mujahideen from India that I have met have migrated from India with their wives and children," he claimed.

Abu Hudhaifah, who claimed that he originally belonged to London and moved to Iraq early last year, told this newspaper that "reports in media about the martyrdom of Khalifah Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi are false and baseless and he is alive and healthy'. "The air-strike did not get him. I don't get to see him (Baghdadi) very often but soon our official media will issue the clarification about it," he said.

Multiple sources in jihadi organisations that are operating in the Af-Pak region too claimed to this newspaper that they had reasons to believe that Baghdadi was still alive. Sources also said that IS was likely to introduce its own currency in its attempt to strengthen its "caliphate".

Hudhaifah said that the IS was in contact with Indian and Bangladeshi organisations that supported its objective of establishing a global caliphate. "I can't disclose the names of individuals or organizations that we are in contact with in India, but we are seeking and actively receiving support from the Muslims of India and such organizations. We clearly remember that India is actually our occupied Islamic Al-Hind that was taken over by the treacherous British and then divided and handed over to Pakistani Murtadeen (conscious abandonment of Islam by a Muslim in word or through deed) and Hindu Mushrikeen (polytheist sinners). Our general objective is to extend our Khilafah over the whole world," he wrote.

This statement assumes importance as so far the Indian security establishment has been asserting that there is no IS presence in the country.

According to Hudhaifah, the IS' objective in the Indian subcontinent was to overthrow the Indian and Pakistani governments by waging a jihad against them, so that the two nation can be combined under one Islamic rule as was the case in the past.

"For this purpose we are in contact with sincere Muslims of Pakistan and India, as well as of Bangladesh and if Allah wills, we shall start our activities in this region soon. The region of Al-Hind (from Pakistan to Burma) will ultimately become a Wilayah (province) of expanding global Khilafah. Inshallah," he said.