NEW DELHI: The J&K police have written to their counterparts in Telangana seeking information about a Islamic State operative killed in encounter with security forces on early Monday.
Sources confirmed that the deceased, Mohammed Taufeeq, belonged to Hyderabad and was operating under aliases of Sultan al Hyderabadi and Abu Zarr al Hindi given to him by the IS.
Radicalized through social media, the youth had joined IS in Kashmir by contacting handlers on Facebook.
Taufeeq was killed in south Kashmir's Anantnag along with
Abu Yahya al Istashadi aka Eisa Fazili, the 'emir' of Islamic State in J&K (ISJK) and Syed Owais Shafi alias
Abu Barra al Kashmiri who are local residents.
TOI was first to report the names of the trio on Tuesday.
The development came on a day when the Islamic State officially confirmed the death of Yahya mourning him as a martyr. The announcement has established the authenticity of al Qarar as the channel of communication for IS in south Asia and J&K, a source in the intelligence establishment pointed out.
The three men were earlier affiliated to groups like the Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen (TeM), Hizbul Mujahideen and Ansar Ghazwat al Hind but had pledged allegiance to Islamic State (ISJK) last year.
The trio is part of a small but significant number of terrorists who have left PoK based groups to declare their allegiance to IS. This new group sees Hurriyat as “compromised” politicians and its online propagation is resulting in a steady stream of recruits.
IS had earlier announced their “martyrdom” on its Telegram channels on Monday. “Blessed night for bless brothers.. Brother Abu Yahya, Abu Barra and Abu Zarr got what they desired.. Blessed Shahdah (inshallah)... Yesterday in an encounter with the Mishrik Indian Army and apostate Kashmiri Police at Islamabad district of Indian Kshmir,” the message said.
In December, pro-IS media channel al-Qaraar had released a video identifying Abu Yahya as the “emir of Kshmir.”
