This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.

'Yes, I Am A Terrorist,' Missing Kerala Youth Texts Family

'I have left to fight for Islam.'
An Islamic State flag hangs amid electric wires over a street in Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, near the port-city of Sidon, southern Lebanon January 19, 2016. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho
Ali Hashisho / Reuters
An Islamic State flag hangs amid electric wires over a street in Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, near the port-city of Sidon, southern Lebanon January 19, 2016. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho

When 15 youngsters went missing from Kerala earlier this month, it was suspected that they might have joined the Islamic State.

As reported in Times Of India, confirming the suspicions, one of the young men, Mohammad Marwan, sent a text message to his family which read, "People may call me a terrorist. If fighting in the path of Allah is terrorism, yes I am a terrorist."

In the message, which was sent in the last week of June, Marwan promised to return back home after he "finishes work with IS to help the persecuted Muslims in Kashmir, Gujarat and Muzaffarnagar."

"Here, Muslims, including little children, are killed in the bomb attack by the US and Russian forces. How can I sit comfortably at home when the Muslim ummah (community) is attacked," the message further read.

He also quoted the Quran, saying, "Allah will ask what I was doing when the community was being persecuted. Didn't the Prophet taught (sic) us that the entire ummah is like one body? It is my religious duty to fight for the protection of the community."

Taking full responsibility for his activities, the 23-year-old said, "No one has brainwashed me and recruited me to IS. I decided to leave for fighting for Islam after reading news about the developments in the Islamic State."

Marwan goes on to say in the message, that came as a shock to his family, that if he died fighting for Islam, he would consider himself a martyr. "The martyr who died fighting for Islam has the privilege of recommending 70 persons from family to the other world (heaven)," he added.

He has described the situation in IS-controlled areas as a "24-hour war," saying that chances of his survival were low.

Some days ago, a similar audio message was sent by Ijas Mohammad, another missing young man from Kerala, stating that he had reached his destination and that no one should be looking for him.

Close
This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.