7 Indians currently part of ISIS; 6 others dead

New Delhi, Aug 3

Seven Indians are currently part of the IS jihadists —one in a combat role — while six from the country who joined the terror network have gone down fighting, official sources said quoting intelligence inputs.

Official sources said of the seven Indians with ISIS, two are from Mumbai's outskirts Kalyan, and an Australia-based Kashmiri, four others from Telangana, Karnataka capital Bengaluru, Oman and Singapore.

Among the six Indians who died fighting alongside ISIS were three Indian Mujahideen terrorists, including Sultan Ajmer Shah and Bada Sajid — who had joined its ranks after being in Pakistan — two from Maharashtra and one from Telangana.

Quoting intelligence inputs, sources said, barring one, all others primarily serve as cooks, drivers and helpers to the fighters.

The only one to have been deployed for combat is from Kalyan, they said.

So far, 17 young men, mostly from Telangana, have been prevented from travelling to Syria, apparently to join ISIS.

The issue of radicalised Indian youths joining ISIS had figured prominently during a meeting of high-ranking security officials here on Saturday.

Some of the steps included involving community elders in dissuading the young people from joining such outfits, monitoring of radical social media platforms and real-time sharing of information among security agencies.

Counter-radicalisation efforts would include counselling the vulnerable youths.

Maharashtra and Telangana have already put in place a model for dealing with ISIS-related cases.

Monitoring of social media has also begun, sources said, adding efforts would be made to gain confidence of the Muslim community. — PTI