Search for ‘Jannat’ ends in death: 10 Malayali ISIS recruits killed in last one year

Men, women and children had left their homes to join and fight for the ISIS, in search of 'heaven on earth'.

news Radicalisation

Over the past few years, various investigating agencies have probed the links between certain groups and sects in Kerala and terrorist organisations.

These suspicions were strengthened as a group of Keralites went missing from various Gulf countries between December 2016 and January 2017, and after that 21 people went missing from various districts of Kerala. (Primarily from Kasargod).

According to various reports, at least ten people from both the groups, who went to fight for the ISIS in Syria and Afghanistan, have been killed.

The ones who fled from Gulf

Twenty one people, including six women and children, had left Kerala in search of Jannat (heaven on earth) in May 2016.

On Sunday, The Times of India reported that five Keralites who had gone missing from the Gulf to join the Islamic terror outfit ISIS last year, were killed in a span of the last four months.

Siby from Palakkad, Muhadis from Vandoor in Malappuram, one person from Kannur and two from Kozhikode, are among the people reported to have been killed in the recent past.

Siby, from Kanjikode in Palakkad, had left his join in Bahrain to join ISIS and was killed while fighting for the terror outfit in Syria. His relatives received the information regarding the death as a text message on June 13 but it came to light only on Sunday.

According to reports, his family members didn’t share the information as it was the month of Ramzan.

The 32-year-old left home on June 2 last year. He had told his family members that he was going to Oman to study religion.

His last communication to the family was during the last Ramzan. But even at that time, he had given no clue about his location. The relatives had later informed the police that he was missing.

Similarly, another person called Muhadis was reportedly killed in Aleppo, Syria in military operations. A source told Prashanth MP of TOI that Muhadis's brother Manaf, who works in Bahrain, brought the news of the death to the family a month ago.

The 21 who went missing from Kerala

Twenty one people, including six women and children, had left Kerala in search of Jannat (heaven on earth) in May 2016.

Of these 21 people, four have died during combat and US attacks on Afghanistan.

In June 2017, the death of Shajeer Mangalasseri Abdulla, a native of Kasargod in Afghanistan was reported. Shaheer, a civil engineering graduate from NIT in Kozhikode, was one of the first in this group to leave the country.

Prior to this, there were reports on the death of another Keralite, Bestin Vincent aka Yahiya, who was part of this group.

Murshid and Hafeesudheen from Padne in Kasargod, were also killed this year.

The Al Qaeda link

In April this year, Abu Tahir, a native of Palakkad who had gone missing in 2013 and had joined the terror outfit Al-Qeada, was killed in Syria.

"The news cannot be fully authenticated. This is all based on reports and messaged received by family circles," a senior Kerala Intelligence official said.