New Delhi: Central security agencies are looking into the role of a Kerala man believed to be a member of the ISIS, which has claimed responsibility for the Kabul gurdwara attack in which 25 people were killed, officials said on Saturday.
Mohammed Muhsin (28), a resident of Kasargod, went to the UAE in 2018 from where he is believed to have joined the ranks with the global terror organisation in Afghanistan, they said.
His identity was established after an Islamic state publication posted his picture identifying him with his 'kunya' (Arabic name), Abu Khalid al-Hindi, the officials said.
They said he, along with his family, had returned to Kerala from Malaysia in 2017 and later left for Saudi Arabia in search of work.
The same year, he returned to Kerala and stayed with his family before leaving for the UAE in 2018, the officials said.
At least 25 worshippers were killed and eight others injured when a heavily armed suicide bomber stormed his way into a prominent gurdwara on Wednesday in the heart of Kabul, in one of the deadliest attacks on the minority Sikh community in the strife-torn country.
The Islamic State terror group, which has earlier also targeted Sikhs in Afghanistan, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The central agencies with the help of local police reached out to the family of the accused, who identified him to be Muhsin from the published picture which had ISIS flag in the background, they said.
His parents had claimed that they received a message from the ISIS confirming his death during the attack, the officials said.
Muhsin, a school dropout, is believed to have landed in Afghanistan as a member of ISIS in the Khorasan Province, they said.
With one of the victims in the gurdwara attack being an Indian, the amended NIA Act gives the agency mandate to take over the investigation but a call is yet to be taken by the Home Ministry, the officials said.
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