The leader of the Kerala module of the Islamic State (IS) terror group, Rashid Abdulla, is believed to have been killed in a bombing by the United States forces in Afghanistan nearly a month ago.
According to a TOI report, in a message by an IS operative from Khorasan province in Afghanistan via telegram app, he said that Rashid along with a few others were killed in a random bombing by the US forces there. "Total three Indian brothers, two Indian ladies and four kids got killed," said the message accessed by TOI.
The reply message from the IS operative came after a query on Rashid who was very active on the Telegram app. He used the app to spread ISIS ideologies and gained supporters through his channel. But his channel has been inactive for more than 2 months which raised suspicion about Rashid's whereabouts. The unidentified IS operative replied to the query stating that he is no more.
Hailing from Kasaragod district in Kerala, Rashid Abdulla was an engineering graduate and a former employee of Peace International School. He used to be the head of the department for 'Other Cognitive Areas' at the school, which was founded by the Islamic scholar and religious orator MM Akbar.
It was around 2014 when Rashid was drawn towards the IS ideologies. According to his colleagues at Peace International School, Rashid was getting deeper into the IS methods and ideologies by learning about the organisation from the brainwashing articles and materials that were available online.
In 2016, Rashid along with his wife Ayesha alias Sonia and several others migrated to Afghanistan. Since then he has made several audio clips in order to induce more people into the organisation. The audio clips were circulated in the Telegram app which praised the IS ideologies.
The main theme of the most IS operatives including Rashid was the rule of Khalifah – Caliphate (an Islamic state under the leadership of an Islamic steward-Caliph, a person considered a political-religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of the Muslim community), which according to the Muslim extremists is true Islam.
