Indian ISIS fighter dead in Iraq?

A Muslim youth, one of the four from Kalyan on the outskirts Mumbai who left their homes and joined the Islamic State also known as ISIS in Iraq, has been reportedly killed.

Arif Majeed's family received a call on Tuesday informing that he had died in an explosion in Mosul, an IS stronghold, according to sources in the Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad.

Arif along with three other engineering students from Kalyan -- Fahad Tanvir Sheikh, Aman Naim Tandel and Shaheen Farooqi Tank -- was suspected to have joined the terror outfit in Iraq after they left their homes in May. They said they were going for a pilgrimage to Karbala in Iraq. Six days later, they separated from their group and allegedly took a taxi to Mosul.

The four youth had left behind notes saying that they had joined the cause of jihad. Their parents have filed missing persons complaints with the Kalyan police.

According to media reports, central security agencies revealed that IS was targeting the youth in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Jammu and Kashmir. 

Image: An Islamic State fighter gestures as he takes part in a military parade in Syria's Raqqa province on Monday. Photograph: Reuters