10 Indians Among 900 ISIS Affiliates Surrendering to Afghan Forces

Ten Indians among 900 ISIS affiliates surrendered before the Afghan Security Forces, most of them are Keralites.

Islamic State. Image used for representational purpose.

(Photo Courtesy: The News Minute)

Over 900 Islamic State (ISIS) affiliates have surrendered to Afghanistan security agencies over the past fortnight.

Most of them are family members of ISIS fighters, a report in Hindustan Times said. The report also stated that ten Indians, mostly from Kerala, are also among the 900 detainees. The majority of the surrendered nationals belong to Pakistan.

The surrenders occurred while the Afghan National Security forces were conducting operations against ISIS in the eastern province of Nangarhar. On 12 November, 93 ISIS members had laid down their arms,  which included 13 Pakistani nationals.

The ten Indians identified are mostly women and children of ISIS fighters. All of them are being shifted to Kabul. The details of the detainees are being gathered by the National Directorate of Security – the Afghan intelligence agency.

“We are evaluating them one by one. More details will emerge once this process is finished.”

Official,  (Declined to be identified)

According to reports, Nangarhar is an active base for ISIS fighters. Recently, several fighters had been killed in air strikes in the region on account of operations carried out by Afghan Special forces.

Keralites and ISIS

According to a report in The News Minute, in 2016, 21 Keralites had joined ISIS along with their family members. The shocking incident came to light when NIA arrested one Yasmin Mohad Zahid from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi airport in August 2016.

The news created a huge controversy in Kerala with further reports from the state police claiming that as many as 100 people from Kerala were suspected to have joined the terror organisation.

In August 2019, a man from Kerala who joined ISIS was killed during an operation conducted by US-Afghan forces. He was identified as Saifuddin, a resident of Malappuram.

(With inputs from , Hindustan Times and The News Minute)