THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Based on photographs provided by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Bindu Sampath has identified her daughter Nimisha alias Fathima, who went missing in 2016 and was believed to have gone to

en route to

to join the Islamic State terror group.

Around 900 IS cadres along with their families surrendered to security forces in Afghanistan last week, of whom 10 are reportedly Indians, mostly Keralites.

In the photographs NIA showed her on Monday, Bindu said she could identify her son-in-law Bexen alias Easa and her granddaughter and is certain that a woman wearing a blue burqa and carrying a kid in one of them is her daughter.

Nimisha was a BDS student in Kasaragod when she went missing in May 2016. She later informed the family that she had married Bexen, an MBA graduate, and they had converted to Islam. Bexen and Nimisha then migrated to Afghanistan on their way to Syria. Nimisha was seven months' pregnant when they left the state.

"Nimisha has been in touch with me over messages till November 26 last year. She had sent me snaps of my granddaughter, which helped me identify her in the photographs. I could also identify Bexen, but just to make sure I verified it with his mother and she too agreed with me," Bindu, a homemaker, said.

‘Want their safe return to India’

One of the photographs show a mixed group of men and women -- all wearing burqa along with a few kids -- sitting in an undisclosed location in Afghanistan. Another photograph has all IS members who surrendered lined up on a rocky terrain. “I could identify Bexen from his hands, nose and sitting style,” his mother Gracy told TOI over phone from Palakkad.

While the formalities to identify those who have surrendered are in progress, Bindu has provided NIA with identification details of her family members. “I know it is not going to be a happy ending to my trauma anytime soon but all I want is their safe return to India. Let the law take its time, I can at least be assured that my daughter and family are in safe hands,” she said.

Bindu has also raised questions about the reported death of Abdul Rashid Abdulla in a US bombing early this year. She says she could identify Abdulla, the mastermind of the IS module in Kerala who led a 21-member team to Afghanistan, in the group photograph. Bindu, who used to contact Abdulla to know about her daughter, has informed the NIA officials that he is still active on Telegram app.