Jihadi groups in Kerala slipped into a gloomy mood after TV channels flashed the news of the killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on Monday morning.
Many former Simi leaders, who are now working in other organisations, have refused to react to the news.
“Let us wait for one or two days,” a former senior leader of Simi told this newspaper. “Now everyone is dancing to the tune of America. Let the euphoria subside.”
Though no direct links have been established between the Al Qaeda and terrorist organisations in Kerala, it is no secret that Osama has been the vital source of inspiration for outfits such as the Simi and the NDF (now the PFI). For Simi, Osama was the “ultimate Jihadi” and the “true Muslim”. P. Koya, the national leader of the PFI and the former Simi functionary, had openly eulogised Osama.
In an interview to the Washington Post, Koya had said that the fall of the twin towers in New York was the most beautiful sight he had seen in his life.
The jihadi group formed in Simi after the split in 2006 had accepted Taliban leader Mullah Omar as its “international amir”. The group, led P.A. Shibly from Erattupetta, had entrusted the Simi leader Abdul Subhan Qureishi alias Touqeer to contact the Taliban leader.
Some of the CDs recovered from the hideouts of the PFI after the assault on the lecturer at Moovattupuzha contained the visuals of the training camps of the Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The NIA is planning to probe the possible Al Qaeda links of some of the outfits in Kerala.