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Kerala family gets word: One from group building Islamic State in Afghanistan is killed

“There’s simply no way of verifying the identities of individual dead.”

Kerala man killed in Afghanistan, Islamic State, ISIS, Kerala jihadist, drone strike, Afghanistan-ISIS, Nangarhar district, Kasaragod, Kerala, India news, Indian Express Indian intelligence and diplomatic sources in Kabul said Nangarhar had seen intense fighting between Afghan forces and the Islamic State in recent weeks, but that they had no confirmation of whether Hafesudheen was among the dead.

The family of Hafesudheen Theke Koleth, a Kerala resident believed to have left the country to live in Islamic State-controlled territory in Afghanistan’s war-torn Nangarhar district, has received information that he has been killed, police and intelligence sources have told The Indian Express. Family members learned of the death through a Telegram instant message sent to them by another Kerala jihadist living in Nangarhar on Sunday morning. Hafesudheen, of Padanna in Kerala’s Kasaragod district, turned 24 last year. He was part of a group of at least 25 Kerala residents who travelled together to Nangarhar, telling friends and family that they wished to participate in building what they considered to be a truly Islamic society.

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Khadeeja Hakeem, Hafesudheen’s mother, received a message early on Sunday morning telling her that her son had “attained martyrdom”. The message was sent by one-time hotel manager Ashfak Majeed Kallukettiya Purayil, who is thought to be living in Nangarhar with his wife Shamsiya Kuriya and small child.

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Later in the morning, at 8.33 am, Hafesudheen’s relative B C Rahman received a more detailed message that said “Hafes was killed by a drone strike yesterday. We consider him to be shuhada (a martyr), and Allah knows best. Allah has purchased of the believers their lives and their properties; for the price theirs shall be Paradise,” the message concluded, quoting a passage from the Quran. Rahman was told Hafesudheen’s burial rites had been completed. “We are waiting for our turn, insha Allah.”

Following his arrival in Nangarhar, Hafesudheen had sent a chat message to his family expressing his happiness: “I am now get the jannat (paradise), here no tax, Sharia law, nobody here catching me, very good place.” He is the first member of the group, which includes four children, known to have been killed.

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Indian intelligence and diplomatic sources in Kabul said Nangarhar had seen intense fighting between Afghan forces and the Islamic State in recent weeks, but that they had no confirmation of whether Hafesudheen was among the dead.

“Things are very chaotic on the ground,” one intelligence official said. “There’s simply no way of verifying the identities of individual dead.”

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Nangarhar’s Governor Gulab Mangal said last week that the country’s army had killed at least 34 Islamic State insurgents in air and ground attacks carried out in Nangarhar’s Dih Bala district. The slain, Mangal said, “included several foreigners”. Seventeen Afghan soldiers were killed in Islamic State strikes on military checkpoints.

Last year, Hafesudheen had told his family that he was travelling to Kozhikode to join a Quran study circle. Two days later, however, he informed them that he was going on to Sri Lanka, to study at a seminary there. By that time, sources in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) say, he had already travelled with the group on a legitimate Indian passport, No. J0113124, on an Emirates flight from Mumbai to Dubai on June 5. He went on to Iran, before disappearing into Afghanistan.

Hafesudheen had been among several of the Kerala Islamic State militants profiled by The Indian Express earlier this month. His mother said he had promised her they would meet in heaven. “The words get stuck in my throat,” she said. “I cried when he last called.” He sent several chat messages afterwards. “Sleep doesn’t help when it’s your soul that’s tired,” said one.

Akbdul Hakim, Hafesudheen’s father, had chronicled how his son began turning to neo-fundamentalist religious practices two years ago, after he came into contact with engineer-turned-proselytiser Abdul Rashid, the central figure who put together the group that travelled from Kerala. Rashid is thought to be in Nangarhar with his second wife, Sonia Sebastian, also known as Ayesha, a recent convert to Islam.

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“My own son called me a kafir (unbeliever). Radicalism changed him completely,” Abdul Hakim said. “I am an Indian, and I don’t even wish to see my son’s corpse.”

Rashid’s first wife Yasmeen Mohammad Zahid was arrested while trying to board a flight to Afghanistan earlier this year. The group that did manage to fly out includes several highly qualified individuals — doctors, nurses and engineers — who are now practising their skills in Nangarhar, some of the circle have told their families. One member, Mohammad Marwan, texted his family to say he intended to engage in military training. He asserted that he would return only after he “finishes work with IS to help the persecuted Muslims in Kashmir, Gujarat and Muzaffarnagar”.

Shihaz Kettiyapuraiyil, and his wife Ajmala, two other members of the group, have had a child while in Afghanistan, as have Ejaz Kettiyapuraiyil and his wife Rahaila, who was three months pregnant when they left the country. Bexin Vincent and his wife too have had a child while in Nangarhar, sources said.

First uploaded on: 27-02-2017 at 00:00 IST
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