A youth, who had gone missing from Kerala last year and was suspected to have joined the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group, has reportedly been killed in Afghanistan, according to a message from Ashfaq, another recruit from Kerala.

Shajeer Mangalasseri Abdulla, a native of Mangalassery, Palakkad, is suspected to be the head of IS volunteers from Kerala in Nangarhar province in Afghanistan.

There were earlier reports of his death, but this is the first time that a message has come along with his picture.

Ashfaq, a native of Padanna, had earlier reported that Shajeer was killed in a GBU-43/B bomb strike near Asadkhel on April 13. However, intelligence agencies disputed the claims and said that they did not get any such information from their US or Afghan counterparts.

This time Ashfaq has sent the message, along with the photo of Shajeer to Rehman, a social worker in Padanna village in Kasargod. It was Ashfaq who reported the deaths of Hafeesudheen and Murshid, both Padanna natives and Yahiya from Palakkad. Hafeesudheen and Yahiya were killed in drone strikes while Murshid died during the US bomb attack.



