A propaganda video of the Islamic State (IS) that was circulated online last week features at least 11 Indians, including two of Tamil origin, a senior government official said.

The 22-minute Arabic-subtitled video, The Land of Hind: Between Pain and Hope, was distributed on web-based applications such as Telegram and micro-blogging site Twitter on May 19. The video was first released by IS’ al-Barakah Province, its division for al-Hasakah in Homs, Syria, on May 15.

One of the men who feature in the video has been identified as Haja Fakkruddin Usman Ali from Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu.

Haja and his family became citizens of Singapore about six years ago.

In November 2013, Haja, along with his wife and three children, went to Syria to participate in jihad but returned to India as he could not establish any contact with IS operatives there.

In Syria, he is reported to have stayed with some Chechen Mujahideen. On January 22, 2014, Haja left from Chennai for Syria and entered Turkey. He is said to have been active since then.

Another person in the video has been identified as Gul Mohamed Maracachi Maraicar, also from Cuddalore.He is said to be a chief recruiter of IS and was deported from Singapore on February 27, 2014 on charges of radicalising Fakruddin. He later went off the radar in February 2015.

Earlier recording

A senior government official said the video was made at least 10 months ago.

The Hindu had said that four persons in the video were identified as Sajid alias Bada Sajid and Abu Rashid alias Sheikh, both former Indian Mujahideen members from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh and Fahad Sheikh and Amand Tandel from Kalyan in Maharashtra.

Sajid was one of the six Indians, who had been declared dead by Indian agencies in September 2015.

He had fled the flat in Batla House in Jamia Nagar in Delhi, minutes before it was raided by Special Cell of the Delhi Police in 2008. The identities have not been established conclusively.

(The Hindu)