Who is Shafi Armar? Retracing the journey of global terrorist from Bhatkal

Shafi Armar also goes by the name Abu Yusuf al-Hindi was declared dead after he blew himself up in Syria Armar who was was the chief recruiter for IS from India hailed from Bhatkal in Uttar Kannada district His brother Abdul Khadir Sultan Armar was also reportedly killed two years ago, but there was no confirmation

Abu Yusuf al-Hindi alias Shafi Armar who was declared dead in a suicide bomb attack in Raqqa near Syria on August 23 was the first Indian terrorist to be declared as specially designated global terrorist by the US department of State in July. Not many know that he was a native of Bhatkal, a small town in Uttar Kannada district.

With the IS confirming his death through its official agency, we retrace Shafi Armar's journey from Bhatkal to the Syria, the de-facto capital of the dreaded ISIS.

It is reported that Armar hailed from Nawayat Colony in Bhatkal. He was schooled in the hardline Wahabi ideology in a seminary in North India from where he went to Pakistan along with his brother Sultan Armar. It was reported that he joined Indian Mujahiddeen (IM).

Not much was known about Shafi Armar until the arrest of another terrorist from his hometown, Yasin Bhatkal, the mastermind behind the (IM) in Nepal border in 2013. 

Bhatkal was wanted in various terror attacks in Bengaluru, Ahemdabad, Surat, Pune and Hyderabad. Bhatkal first spilled the beans about Armar's connection with the IS. Armar operated under various IDs 'Anjan bhai', 'Chote Maula' and 'Safi'. He has been responsible for recruiting at least three dozen youths from India to the IS.

During the NIA crackdown on a IS unit in Ratlam district in Madhya Pradesh, it was found that Armar was luring the youths to join the IS through the Jund Ul Khalifa E hind, a closed internet group.

However, he reportedly fled from Pakistan to Afghanistan after Yasin Bhatkal's arrest. In Afghanistan, he joined his brother Abdul Khadir Sultan Armar who had already established himself. However, both the brothers moved to Syria and had been responsible in recruiting youths from India. There had been reports about Sultan's death in Syria in March 2015, the family does not have any information on this.