ISIS' video: Indian jihadists warn of revenge for Babri Masjid, Kashmir, Gujarat, Muzaffarnagar

Washington: The dreaded terror group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has launched a new propaganda video that showed off a large group of Kalashnikov-wielding jihadists allegedly from India fighting against the Syrian forces in the Homs province.

The 22-minute Arabic-language video shows Thane engineering student Fahad Tanvir Sheikh, who travelled to Syria in 2014 along with three other men from the city.

According to The Indian Express, Fahad Tanvir Sheikh is the only individual conclusively identified in the video, in which he uses the pseudonym Abu Amr’ al-Hindi.

In the video, Sheikh vows: “We will return...but with a sword in hand, to avenge the Babri Masjid, and the killings of Muslims in Kashmir, in Gujarat, and in Muzaffarnagar.”

He also pays homage to his friend from Thane, Shahim Tanki, who is believed to have been killed in a bomb attack in Raqqa in 2015.

Also, one jihadist in the video claimed that he escaped the Batla House encounter, which took place in September 2008 against Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorists holed up in Batla House locality in Jamia Nagar, Delhi.

The video is part of ISIS propaganda campaign on foreign fighters in their ranks, US-based private SITE Intelligence Group said on Thursday.

The terror group's division in Homs released the video on Indian fighters aimed at recruiting jihadists from the country to fight against the Syrian government forces, it said.

"The interviewed ISIS fighters called on Indians to leave their country and join the 'jihad' in Syria against the 'kuffar' (infidels)," Al-Masdar News today reported, citing the video.

It is not clear how many Indians are actually fighting with the ISIS inside Syria, it said.

Citing Syrian Arab Army sources, it said there has been a recent surge in the number of dead Indian fighters near the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria.

The video shows groups of militants on board small boats brandishing Kalashnikov with an ISIS black flag in the background. It shows bearded faces of most of the militants.

One militant posing with Kalashnikov is sitting in front of a trolley with a heavy gun mounted over the vehicle.

The video shows militants joining hands and pledging 'jihad' against the Syrian forces.

(With PTI inputs)