Female IS member from Kerala surrenders in Afghanistan

An Indian woman from Kerala is among more than 600 Islamic State fighters and affiliates, who have surrendered to Afghan security agencies over the past 10 days, reports The Hindu.

The woman has been identified as Sonia Sebastian, 32, alias Ayisha, a resident of Kasargod in Kerala.

She was among the 21 men and women from Kerala who left India in 2016 in batches to join the Islamic State in Khorasan Province in Afghanistan, according to the report.

She along with the other IS members crossed over to Afghanistan on foot from Iran, a senior official is quoted as saying by The Hindu.

The IS' Afghan offshoot Wilayat Khorasan came into existence in 2015, mainly comprising defectors from Tehrik-i-Taliban or TTP.

“We have analysed some photographs of the surrendered IS fighters available in the public domain. One of them appears to be Sonia Sebastian. In the photograph she is sitting with a child,” said the official.

But the Indian authorities are yet to receive any official confirmation from their Afghan counterparts on the matter.

According to a 2017 chargesheet pressed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against two suspects, Sebastian left India on May 31, 2016, with her husband, Abdul Rashid Abdulla, from Mumbai airport, The Hindu reports.

The NIA alleged that the couple held secret classes in support of IS and jihad during the month of Ramadan, sometime in the month of July, 2015, in Padanna and Kasaragod. But the NIA has yet to file charges against Sebastian.

“It has also been revealed during investigation that accused Abdul Rashid along with his wife Sebastian and the majority of the accused in this case, are presently located in IS-controlled territory in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan,” the NIA chargesheet said.

Some residents in Kerala received messages in 2016, 2017 and 2018 that their family members had been killed in drone strikes in Afghanistan. The messages were sent by Ashfaq Majeed, who was part of the group that fled to Afghanistan. Officials said they had no way of checking the authenticity of these messages.