Malappuram : Yet another person who left Kerala to join Islamic State (IS) has been killed in a drone attack by the US forces.
As per the US intelligence reports, it is confirmed that Muhammad Muhsin has died after an American drone strike in Nanghar province in Afghanistan. Muhsin, a resident of Edappal was killed along with Pakistani IS Commander, Huzaifa al- Bakistani, a key online recruiter for the Daesh (the Arabic acronym for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) in India, particularly Kashmir, on July 18.
He had left for Dubai in 2017 while he was a final year student in an engineering college in Thrissur. The Changaramkulam police had registered a case of man-missing in this regard. Police said that they knew Muhsin had migrated to Khorasan province in Afghanistan.
According to Kerala police and intelligence officials, the death of Muhsin was communicated to his family on July 23 from an Afghanistan phone number. His death brings into focus again the Islamic radicalisation of young people in Kerala with most recruits having connections with West Asia, particularly Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Oman.
The number of recruits for Khorasan IS leads in Kannur district with with no less than 39 persons joining the group, of which 15 have been already killed. Kasargod, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Palakkad, Ernakulam and Thrissur districts follow Kannur in providing recruits to IS in Afghanistan.
There are a large number of children under the IS umbrella who have travelled with their families to Afghanistan via the West Asia route. According to the Home Ministry, the problem of radicalisation is severe in Kannur, where 48 persons tried to join IS via West Asia and Turkey.