Mumbai's ISIS recruit Areeb Majeed a trained suicide bomber, fought against US forces in Syria

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: ISIS recruit from Kalyan, Areeb Majeed, is a trained suicide bomber who made as many as three attempts on security forces at different vital installations in Syria without any success, it has now emerged. His bullet injuries too were sustained in one of the many battles, including the August offensive on Mosul Dam in Iraq, he participated in as an ISIS man against Iraqi and US forces.

These are some of the revelations Majeed made during interrogation, confirming the worst fears of security agencies that the engineering student from Mumbai's suburb is more than a boy gone astray. Until now, Majeed had maintained that he had not participated in any ISIS battle. He had also said that the two bullet injuries he sustained were during practice firing and that ISIS made him work as a mason.

Security agencies, which always suspected his statement, recently subjected him to lie detector test which only confirmed their suspicion that he was not telling the truth. When confronted with test results and sustained interrogation, Majeed is learnt to have broken down and told interrogators that he is less innocent than he attempted to appear initially.

Majeed has been interrogated for the past over one week by NIA and Intelligence Bureau. He has revealed that apart from weapons training, he was also trained to be a suicide bomber. "He says he attempted to take an explosive-laden vehicle near a few vital installations in Syria with the aim of attracting security forces towards him. The idea was to blow up the vehicle when enough men in uniform were around him. However, the suspicious security at these places completely avoided him, defeating the purpose. We are trying to verify his claims," a security establishment officer said.

The officer added that among the many battles he participated in was the August fight for Mosul dam. Majeed fought alongside ISIS against Kurdish Peshmerga and US forces who eventually took over the dam. "After sustaining bullet injuries, he was given $2,000 by ISIS as reward and medical assistance before he fled to Turkey and decided to come back home," said the officer.

Majeed also revealed that while he was put off by ISIS looking down at him and his friends and engaging them in menial jobs initially, what disillusioned him was the way the rebels treated women in areas controlled by them. He told interrogators that he felt disgusted that ISIS forced women to sleep with its recruits and executed forced marriages. "He says such treatment of women is prohibited in Islam and he didn't like it," said the officer.

The development has diminished the chances of agencies taking any lenient view of Majeed's ISIS indulgence given that he is remorseless and deeply radicalized. It had been earlier discussed within the home ministry that Majeed could be looked at with compassion if he was not found to be involved in any attack, cooperated with investigations and desired to reform.