NCTC confirms that beheaded Maldivian man fled to Syria 'with wife and kids'
Local news outlet VFP on Tuesday reported that a Maldivian man was executed by the Tahrir-a-Sham group 'two weeks ago
Ahmed Zubair, Maldivian alleged to have been beheaded in Syria
Reports of a Maldivian man that fled to Syria to join terrorist group 'Islamic State' being beheaded by a rival organization surfaced on Tuesday.
Citing a confidential source, local news outlet VFP on Tuesday reported that a Maldivian man was executed by the Tahrir-a-Sham group 'two weeks ago'. VFP added that it had obtained some images that prove this as well. Tahrir-a-Sham is an active Salafist jihadist militant group involved in the Syrian Civil War.
Since then, the National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC) has all but confirmed his killing, revealing that the man- Ahmed Zubair from Medaljehige of Vaavu atoll- had indeed traveled to Syria to join the civil war there.
While NCTC said that it has not received any direct information on Zubair's death, it confirmed that he had gone to Syria 'with his wife and two children'.
It said that the man who is reported to have been beheaded in Syria's internal conflict was an extremist and that he had a 'history of attempting to spread his ideologies'.
Furthermore, NCTC said that it has been working with all those relevant to confirm what had exactly happened to Zubair and verify the information circulating on social media.
Back in January, NCTC admitted that Maldivians joining the Syrian conflict 'is increasing', adding that 61 had traveled there in 2017 alone.
