IM commander suspect in 2008 blasts across India dies fighting Islamic State in Syria?

Fugitive Indian Mujahideen commander Muhammad 'Bada' Sajid has been killed while fighting with Islamic State forces in Syria, according to a report in the Indian Express.

Isabah Media, the propaganda wing of the Indian jihadist group Ansar ul-Tawhid, has reportedly announced on Twitter that “the martyrdom of our brother Abu Turab al-Hindi on the forefront of the war for Islam in Kobani”. The statement, in Arabic, identified Sajid by his real name in parenthesis.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had named Sajid as one of the perpetrators of the IM bombings of 2008 that killed at least 166 people and injured hundreds in New Delhi, Ahmedabad and Jaipur.

According to Indian Express, a tweet on Sajid said: “Before Abu Turaab [Sajid] got shahadah [martyrdom], three brother[s] dreamt about him marrying a hoor-ul-ayn [virgin in paradise]”. Another tweet claimed that he had been “waging jihad in India since he was 12 years old”. News of Sajid’s death was also tweeted from a handle believed to be controlled by Fahd Sheikh who, along with Tanki, was among the four youngsters from Thane who were the first Indians to join the Islamic State.

The veracity of these handles could not be ascertained independently by dna.

The Indian Express says that intelligence officials had told the paper that news of Sajid’s death in Kobani had circulated amongst his contacts in India three days ago. “It’s near-impossible to gain on-ground verification but the information we have suggests that the report of Sajid’s death is accurate,” an official said to the paper.