No news on mass deaths of Kerala IS recruits: Family

NEW DELHI/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Families of some of the people missing from Kerala, who allegedly joined Islamic State (IS) in Afghanistan, said on Friday they are yet to get any confirmation 14 recruits were killed in an attack in the war-torn country.

A section of the media in Kerala reported quoting intelligence sources that 14 of the 21 people were killed in Syrian and US forces’ attack in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province. But they did not confirm if the six people killed in a US drone attack earlier also figured in the latest list.

So far, relatives know only about the deaths of five people from Kasargode district and another from Kozhikode.

“We read about it in the media only. We have no idea about it. Usually, we alert the media whenever relatives get some information but this time it didn’t happen. We are totally in the dark,” said BC Rehman, a prominent Muslim League leader from Kasargode, who got messages on Telegram app from the missing people.

Telegram is an internet-based communication app like WhatsApp and is a preferred mode of communication of IS. Messages sent on Telegram self-destruct after 24 hours.

The media report also claimed 70-odd Indian women and children were trapped in Syria and Afghanistan. At least three of the missing men took their wives and children when they slipped out of the country. However, sources with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said they have not got any information either about the mass deaths or of trapped Indians.

Last year, 21 people from the state went missing. Among them, two men and three women are converts.