MANILA, Philippines — Philippine officials say a militant leader's widow who has been arrested for allegedly calling on fighters to join a pro-Islamic State group siege in the south also faces allegations that she recruited Indian men to fight in Syria and Iraq.
Joshua Raymundo of the National Bureau of Investigation said Friday that India has asked the Philippines to help investigate Karen Aizha Hamidon, who allegedly worked to encourage several Indian militants in 2016 to join the Islamic State group in the Middle East.
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Hamidon denied the allegation.
Raymundo says arrested Indian militants identifed Hamidon as their recruiter.
Filipino authorities arrested Hamidon, the 32-year old widow of an IS-linked militant commander, last month for allegedly calling on Muslims to join a siege in Marawi city that was crushed by government troops.
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“Hamidon has been a person of interest to authorities since she gained international notoriety in the middle of 2016 when she successfully recruited several Indian nationals to come to the Philippines and join the radical Islamic extremist groups in Mindanao,” Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre said in a press briefing last October 18, 2016.
Aguirre said local and foreign intelligence agents had been going undercover to monitor Hamidon’s activities online.
Hamidon reportedly used messaging applications such as Telegram and WhatsApp to send messages “calling on Muslims to come to the Philippines and join the fight against government forces in Marawi City in order to establish a province of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).”