In a major disclosure, Indian intelligence agencies have disclosed the names of 6 Indians they believe to have died fighting for ISIS. Indian agencies have released the names to several journalists including PTI and CNN-IBN. Among the six youths who died fighting for the ISIS, four are from South India.
Here are all the 6 names.
Athif Vaseem Mohammad (Adilabad, Telangana)
Mohammad Umar Subhan (Bangalore, Karnataka)
Maulana Abdul Kadir Sultan Armar (Bhatkal, Karnataka)
Faiz Masood (Bangalore, Karnataka)
Saheem Farooque Tanki (Thane, Maharashtra)
Mohammad Sajid alias Bada Sajid (Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh)
PTI also quotes the intel-reports in stating that ISIS does not consider South Asian Muslims, including Indians, good enough to fight in conflict zone of Iraq and Syria and convinces them to go for suicide attacks.
Intel also believe indians dont get pick of jihadi brides as they are considered "ethnically inferior to breed" nxt gen of ISIS fighters #pt
— Devirupa Mitra (@DevirupaM) November 23, 2015According to the report, fighters from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh as well as certain countries like Nigeria and Sudan are considered inferior to Arab fighters.
"The fighters from South Asia are usually housed in groups in small barracks and are paid less than the Arab fighters and are provided inferior equipment," the input says.
A total of 23 Indians have so far joined the ISIS of which six reportedly killed in different incidents.
The report suggests that there is a high level of casualty among the South Asian and African foreign terrorist fighters since they are forced to the frontlines of battle as foot soldiers.
Arab fighters with war experience are often positioned behind these fighters and hence their casualties are comparatively less.
In February 2015, an influential international pro-Islamic State Twitter account 'Shami Witness' was shut down after the arrest of a Bengaluru executive by the name Mehdi Biswas who was tweeting pro-ISIS propaganda for months.
On April 24 this year, a Hyderabad youth's family received a message from the terrorist group Islamic State in Syria informing them that he had died while fighting for them, and that the State considered him a martyr of God.
In another major breakthrough, a Dubai-based Indian woman Afshan Jabeen alias Nicky Joseph, who was allegedly recruiting youths online for Islamic State and propagating jihadi literature, was extradited from Dubai to Hyderabad in Spetember and is presently under custody.
Kerala registered its first ISIS related FIR in the second week of September on Riyabul Rehman, a Keralite who had gone missing and was suspected to be in Syria and he has been allegedly recruiting for the IS through social media.
In November, two men, one a 23-year-old BCom graduate from Royapettah and a 22-year-old school dropout were deported from Turkey when they were trying to join ISIS.