Eleven Indians joined Islamic State, have gone to Iraq and Syria: Report

New Delhi: In a startling acknowledgement, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has for the first time reported that a total of 11 Indians, including the four youths from Kalyan in Maharashtra, have joined the global terror group, Islamic State (IS). 

The secret report has also identified five Indians who have died in the Iraq-Syria warzone fighting for the jihadi group as it attempts to establish a caliphate.

While Areeb Majeed, one of the Kalyan youth, returned to India and was taken into custody by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), five Indians are still fighting the ‘holy war’, according to the intelligence inputs gathered. 

Those identified as dead include Faiz Masood from Bangalore, Sahim Farooq Tanki from Kalyan and Abdul Qadir Sultan Armar, a former SIMI leader from Bhatkal in Karnataka. 

Last month Haneef Waseem, a student from Hyderabad who had gone to London for higher studies, had also reportedly died while fighting in Syria. 

The Sunni militant group has unleashed a reign of terror in Iraq and Syria in its attempts to establish a caliphate and make its commander the supreme Muslim leader the world-over. 

The information gathered by the Intelligence Bureau and mentioned in its secret report states that five of the 11 men had been living in the Gulf countries for some time and originally belonged to South India. 

Kalyan youth

So far, intelligence agencies had officially identified the four Kalyan youth as Areeb Majeed, Aman Naeem Tandel, Fahad Tanvir Shaikh, and Sahim Farooq Tanki, saying they had travelled to Iraq and joined the IS last year. 

Majeed was injured three times while fighting for the terror group. He survived bullet injuries and air strikes before approaching the Indian Embassy in Turkey and pleaded to return to India.