Mohammad Taufeeq, one of the three slain terrorists killed on 12th March by the forces in Anantnag, Kashmir, hailed from Telangana. Telangana Police has confirmed that Taufeeq was a native of Hyderabad and was radicalized into Islamic State ideology through social media.
The Ansar Ghazwatul Hind (AGUH), an outfit with an alleged link to the al-Qaeda in Kashmir has also said the slain militant was Muhammad Taufeeq from Hyderabad. Telangana Police, while confirming Taufeeq’s identity said that he was not wanted in any criminal cases in Telangana. The other two terrorists killed in the encounter were identified as Eisa Fazili, was the son of a school principal, who had warned Eisa against joining militants through a Facebook post and Syed Owais Shafi, who had completed his engineering degree last year before joining militancy.
It is reported that according to a pamphlet by the AGUH available online Taufeeq joined militancy in 2017 after coming to Kashmir from Hyderabad. It said that he was responding to the call of Shariat or Shahadat (martyrdom) and started his jihadi journey in 2017 after migrating from Hyderabad to Kashmir. According to the pamphlet, his jihadi names were Sultan Zabul Al Hind and Abu Zarr Al Hindi.
Jammu and Kashmir Police say that while there is no concrete evidence of ISIS presence in Kashmir, it acknowledged that individuals could be influenced by the outfit’s ideology. Earlier, there have been reports of youth from Kerala joining the Islamic State.
