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The terrorist who attacked Sikhs in Afghanistan is a Mohammed Sajid from Kerala

Mohammad Sajid was a shopkeeper in Kerala who had fled from India in 2015 to join the ISIS in Afganistan

The terrorist who attacked Sikhs in Afghanistan is a Mohammed Sajid from Kerala
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Kathir WebdeskBy : Kathir Webdesk

  |  27 March 2020 8:10 PM IST

It has been revealed that one of the terrorists involved in the dastardly attack of a Gurudwara in Afghanistan was a shopkeeper from Kasargod in Kerala. On Wednesday, four armed terrorists rampaged on a Gurudwara in Shor Bazar area of Afghanistan that claimed 28 lives. The Islamic State which has claimed responsibility for the attack published a photo of the attacker on Friday who goes by the pseudonym Abu Khalid al-Hindi. The communiqué released by the IS identified the gunman as Indian national Abu Khalid al-Hindi, who is said to have carried out the attack to avenge the plight of Muslims living in Indian-ruled Kashmir.

Abu Khalid al-Hindi, whose original name has been identified as Mohammed Sajid Kuthirulmmal was a shopkeeper hailing from Padne area of Kasargod in Kerala. ANI reported that Kuthirulmmal escaped from Kasargod in 2015 to join ISIS. Mohammed Sajid Kuthirummal had fled India to join ISIS four years ago. He had joined 14 others from Kasargod. Mohammed is also a wanted in a 2016 NIA case and had an Interpol red notice against him.

In July 2016, a police complaint was registered by a parent in Kasargod that his 30 year old son Abdul Rashid was missing along with his wife Ayisha (Sonia Sebastin) and their child for more than 2 months. At around the same time, 14 other cases of missing people (that includes Mohammad Sajid) were registered by their parents and relatives at the police station in the same area. Preliminary investigations revealed that the missing persons had fled India to join the pan-Islamist terrorist organization ISIS.

The investigation done by Kerala Police identified Yasmeen Mohammad Zahid, a 29-year old woman residing at Batla House, Okhla Jamia Nagar, New Delhi, who was originally from Sitamarhi district of Bihar, as a co-conspirator of Abdul Rashid. Kerala Police note that Yasmeen was involved in aiding Abdul Rashid to raise funds and support for ISIS. Yasmeen was intercepted at Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport when she was trying to go to Afghanistan along with her child. She was arrested on August 1, 2016. The NIA took over the case since then.

Investigations done by the NIA revealed that Abdul Rashid, Yasmeen and a few others were involved in activities to further objectives of the ISIS in Kerala and other places of India. 15 people including Mohammad Sajid had fled from Kerala to join the ISIS in Nangarhar province in Afghanistan. The NIA listed him as an accused and an absconder in the case.

Mohammed Sajid had left for Dubai on 31st March, 2015 from the Mumbai airport. Other members of the group had all left India on different dates. All of them had gone to Iran before going off the radar.

Mohammad Sajid is said to have joined Wilayat Khorasan of Islamic State in Afghanistan (ISIS-K) that consists mainly of members from Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. It was reported in November 2019 that the ISIS-K had attempted to carry out a suicide attack in India in 2018. This was claimed by Russel Travers, Acting Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Office of Director of National Intelligence. He had said in response to a question from Maggie Hassan, the junior Senator from New Hampshire that "Of all of the branches and networks of ISIS, ISIS-K is certainly one of those of most concern, probably in the neighbourhood of 4,000 individuals or so… They have attempted to certainly inspire attacks outside of Afghanistan. They attempted last year to conduct a suicide attack in India. It failed."

The NATO and Afghan forces had claimed that most of the ISIS members in Nangarhar were killed. But sources said that a few including Mohammad Sajid escaped. Communication between the absconders and their relatives through social media platforms was recovered during the investigation which established that Mohammad Sajid was staying with another IS recruit from Kerala.

The NIA website still carries the profile of Mohammed Sajid Kuthirummal and has designated him as one of the most wanted terrorists.




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