This is how ISIS recruits and trains Indian youth for terror strikes

Representational image

Delhi: Even as the NIA arrested at least 14 people belonging to 'Janood-ul-Khalifa-e-Hind' (Army of Caliph of India), the Indian wing of ISIS, who were picked up from various parts of the country for allegedly planning to carry out attacks at important installations, a media report has revealed how the dreaded terror group recruits and trains Indian youngsters for terror strikes.

As per a report in CNN IBN,  ISIS member Mohammad Shafi Armar alias Yusuf al-Hindi's vast propaganda network is used to attract youngsters.

In a case filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), he is described as accused number-26 against members of the banned outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM).

Armar is said to have left for Pakistan along with his brother Mohammad Sultan Armar (who was reportedly killed in Syria in 2015) and is considered the brain behind the online recruitment of young men in India to join the Islamic State.

He reportedly operates under the pseudo name Yousuf in the online world and manages things from Syria..

Armar is a key member of the Ansar ul Tawhid (AuT) which is supposedly an offshoot of the IM and later pledged its allegiance to the Islamic State.

Reports say that first he scouts for probable recruits on public platforms like Facebook and then uses web-based applications for one-to-one contact.

Later he moves to other encryption-free applications like Telegram.

The report said that once Facebook page was 'liked' by potential candidates, he would get a message from Yusuf who would create a Skype account for the recruit.

Potential recruit would have chat names like 'Gumnaam Bhai', 'Crazzyboys', 'Janta' and 'Hindi Bhai'.

Yusuf reportedly prefers chatting on social networking software Trillian.

He would talk about atrocities on Muslims across the world and the last contact made by him to operatives in India was in late January 2016.

Yusuf, as per the report, used the hawala route to send Rs 6.50 lakh to one Muddabbir Sheikh to finance terror activities in India.

Those arrested in India were being groomed by Yusuf to carry out terror attacks.