Bengalurean among seven still serving in Islamic State

Seven, including one from Bengaluru, of the 13 Indians recruited by Islamic State (IS) are still with the dreaded terror outfit while the remaining six have fallen to bullets, government officials said on Monday.

They also felt that most states do not have a “good enough assessment” of the threat posed by the IS and their efforts to radicalise youths and recruit them.

Of the seven, only one is in combat role while six others are doing odd jobs like assisting fighters, serving as cooks and drivers.

The Indian recruits include one each from Karnataka capital Bengaluru and Telangana.  Two are from Mumbai’s outskirts Kalyan while others  are three young men who had lived in Australia, Oman and Singapore. The officials said that among the six Indians killed in action include Indian Mujahideen terrorists Sultan Ajmer Shah and Bada Sajid who joined the IS after their stay in Pakistan,  two from Maharashtra and one from Telangana.

Earlier, the security establishment had prevented at least 25 youths, including 17 from Telangana, from travelling to Syria to join the IS.

Last Saturday, Union Home Secretary L C Goyal convened a meeting of state officials to discuss IS. The meeting took up the issue of radicalised youth joining the IS. The need for streamlining the institutional mechanisms for sharing information and to adequately meet the threats from terrorism were highlighted. It was also decided to strengthen the capacity building of police officers in states through training programs, to be organised by central intelligence and security agencies.

“Some instances of radicalisation of youth in some states came up for discussion. Appropriate measures on counter radicalisation including counselling of such youth and their families were also discussed,” an official statement said on Saturday. Maharashtra and Telangana have already put in place a model for dealing with IS related cases.