A man from Kerala’s Kannur was killed in November while fighting for the Islamic State in Syria, police confirmed on Thursday. The man’s relatives got the message from his friend in Syria through the Telegram messenger application, PTI reported, quoting a police official.

Thirty-year-old Abdul Manaf was from Valapattinam in Kannur. The friend who sent the message about his death to Manaf’s relatives is also fighting for the Islamic State, said Deputy Superintendent of Police PP Sadanandan.

Manaf was a local leader of the Kerala-based Popular Front India, and worked at its Delhi office before joining the extremist group, police said. He was allegedly involved in the murder of a worker of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 2009, police said.

Fifteen people from Kannur district are believed to have joined the Islamic State, of which six were killed in Syria, and five have been arrested, Sadanandan said. Four of them are still in Syria.