The Kerala youths who were believed to be recruited by Daesh and reportedly killed while fighting in Syria were the members of an extreme Salafi group in Bahrain before they joined the terror outfit.
As per the report, the Salafi preachers from Kerala, one from Mankada in Malappuram and the others from Perumbavoor in Ernakulam, were instrumental in radicalizing the youth. The Salafi preachers had organized classes at a religious center in Bahrain and also at other places where they injected the extreme Salafism in the youth. A few members of the group were working with a catering company in Bahrain.
These preachers are the members of the splinter group among the Kerala Salafis and they have no connection with any of the established Salafi organizations in the state, the reports said.
In May 2016, twenty one people including six women and children had left Kerala to join the terror outfits.
The official estimation revealed the number of Malayalis who joined the terror outfit could be much higher. According to the reports, around ten people who went to fight for Daesh in Syria and Afghanistan have been killed. In a span of four months, 5 Keralites had gone missing from the Gulf countries to join Daesh last year were reported to have been killed.
Most of the youth who went to Bahrain at different times contacted the Salafi scholars from Kerala, after getting attracted to extreme Salafism.
Some of the Salafi groups are indirectly propagating and spreading the ideology of Daesh. However, they have severely criticized the activities of Daesh in the open, says a report.
