New Delhi: In August last year, Areeb Fayyaz Majeed made the headlines on the national television for being the first from the state to join the IS.
Majeed, from Panvel in Maharashtra, is the first Indian graduate as a fiyadeen or suicide bomber from an ISIS training school, reported the NDTV.
23-year-old Majeed, a civil engineer by training, made his first attempt at suicide bombing and tried to blow him up against the Kurdish Army positions in Mosul city.
Thrice more Majeed would try to blow himself up but failed in his attempt each time. “I tried my best to die as a martyr but was unable to achieve martyrdom”, said Majeed.
And now back home and in the custody of Indian interrogators, Majeed detailed his failed bombing attempts.
Areeb along with four friends left Mumbai on May 24, 2014.He used his civil engineering skills in Syria to build underground bunkers in and around Raqqah area that is controlled by the ISIS.
He also explained how ISIS uses social media to lure people, soon after graduating from the ISIS training school as a suicide bomber, an ISIS woman recruiter — with whom he had only interacted on social media — would post on Facebook that she had married him.
He was also asked to share his Facebook password “so that she could use my account to contact” and lure more people from India.
He returned to India last November and has been in custody and being prosecuted for several offences, including waging war against Syria.