Mohammed Shafi Armar (1989/1991–2015), also known by his online pseudonym Yusuf al-Hindi, was an Indian Islamic militant, a former member of the

Indian Mujahideen Indian Mujahideen (IM) is an Islamic terrorist group which has been particularly active in India. The jihadist group was founded as an offshoot of the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) by several radicalized members including Iqbal Bh ...

(IM), he became the chief of operations for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in India. He and his brother Sultan Armar founded the ISIS affiliates Ansar-ut Tawhid fi Bilad al-Hind () and Janood-ul-Khalifa-e-Hind () encouraging the recruitment of Indian Muslims for jihad in Syria and Afghanistan. The Armar brothers had split from Indian Mujahideen and formed these affiliates after a rift developed between them and IM co-founders

Iqbal Iqbal, Eqbal, Ikbal, or Eghbal may refer to: Geography Iran * ''Eqbal, Iran'', a village in West Azerbaijan Province *''Eqbaliyeh'', rural district in Iran * ''Eqbal-e Gharbi Rural District'', western provincial district in Qazvin, Iran * ''Eqbal- ...

and

Riyaz Bhatkal Shah Riyaz Ahmad Mohammed Ismail Shahbandari, known as Riyaz Bhatkal, is the co-founder, leader and a wanted terrorist of Indian Mujahideen, a terrorist group based in India. Riyaz Ismail Shahbandri is one of the Indian Mujahideen's three top co ...

History

He was originally from Bhatkal, North Canara district in Karnataka, South India and is reported to have been born between 1989 and 1991. He became a member of the

and in 2008/9, he and his brother Sultan Armar fled to Pakistan in the aftermath of the

Batla House encounter The Batla House encounter case was an armed Delhi Police operation to arrest terrorists of the Indian terror outfit Indian Mujahideen, hiding in a flat in the Batla House area of Jamia Nagar, Okhla, on 19 September 2008. The operation resulted ...

. He and his brother, Sultan, formally split from the IM after a rift developed between them and the IM co-founders

and

. They ultimately joined the Islamic State sometime in 2013. After that has was involved via social media in recruiting individuals to carry out attacks in India. In 2016 he was involved in a failed plot in Hyderabad. In May 2016, he was indicted in absentia at Patiala House District court along with five others under Section 120 (conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 18 and 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. In June 2017, he was listed as a

Specially Designated National The Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, also known as the SDN List, is a United States government sanctions/embargo measure targeting U.S.-designated terrorists, officials and beneficiaries of certain authoritarian regimes, a ...

and had any assets frozen by the United States. He, along with his brother, was killed in 2015 in Syria while fighting for the ISIS, but this was only confirmed in 2019 and several reports of his death emerged in subsequent years (2015, 2017 and 2019). This confusion was due to the fact that his online alias Yusuf al-Hindi was used after his death by different militants.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hindi, Yusuf 20th-century births Year of birth uncertain 2015 deaths Indian Muslims Indian Islamists Indian Mujahideen members Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant members People from Uttara Kannada Indian expatriates in Pakistan Indian expatriates in Syria Fugitives wanted by India Fugitives wanted on terrorism charges