The 2026 US Senate elections results are out. And one specific winner Abdul El-Sayed has been in the headlines. Yes, he is a progressive Democrat, physician and epidemiologist, and has made history by winning the election in Michigan. He is the first Muslim ever elected to the United States Senate.
Born and raised in Rochester Hills, Michigan, to Egyptian immigrant parents, El-Sayed campaigned on an unapologetically progressive platform. He called for an end to all US military aid to Israel and described Israel’s military operations in Gaza as genocide.
But this is not the interesting part. It is his wife, Dr Sarah Jukaku and her family roots that trace back to Bhatkal, a coastal town in Karnataka.
Bhatkal is no ordinary coastal town. It is the place where the network that would become the banned terrorist organisation Indian Mujahideen took shape. Bhatkal has always been in the news whenever a terror attack strikes India. And most often, there was always a link tracing back to Bhatkal.
Bhatkal and Indian Mujahideen
Bhatkal is associated with the Shabandari brothers, Riyaz and Iqbal, who emerged as the founding figures of the Indian Mujahideen around 2005.
Riyaz Shahbandri, popularly known as Riyaz Bhatkal, and his brother Iqbal Bhatkal were accused of building the organisation’s operational network and orchestrating a series of bomb attacks across India.
Although associated with Bhatkal, reports have noted that the brothers grew up in Mumbai and frequently visited the coastal town because their relatives lived there. Their mother had also spoken about their connection to Mumbai rather than Bhatkal as their place of upbringing.
Another prominent name associated with the town is Yasin Bhatkal, whose actual name is Ahmed Siddibappa. He became one of the key operational figures of the Indian Mujahideen and was accused of assembling explosives, conducting reconnaissance of targets and coordinating terror attacks.
Yasin was arrested near the India-Nepal border in August 2013. He was subsequently convicted in the 2013 Hyderabad Dilsukhnagar twin bomb blasts case, along with four other accused.
Indian Mujahideen’s Trail of Bomb Attacks
The Indian Mujahideen network was linked to a series of deadly bomb attacks across major Indian cities between 2006 and 2013.
Some of the major attacks linked to its operatives include:
2007 Uttar Pradesh court blasts: Coordinated explosions targeted court premises in Lucknow, Faizabad and Varanasi in November 2007.
2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts: A series of 21 explosions struck Ahmedabad in July 2008, killing 56 people. Investigations established that explosions were executed by Indian Mujahideen – operating as an offshoot of the banned SIMI.
2010 Pune German Bakery blast: An explosion at the German Bakery in February 2010 killed 17 people. Yasin Bhatkal was identified as a key accused in the attack.
2011 Mumbai serial blasts: Three coordinated explosions struck Opera House, Zaveri Bazaar and Dadar in July 2011. Indian Mujahideen operatives were identified as the masterminds of the attack. Yasin Bhatkal was named the key architect.
2013 Hyderabad Dilsukhnagar blasts: Twin explosions in February 2013 killed 18 people. Yasin Bhatkal and four others were convicted by an NIA special court for their involvement.
The network’s reach was not confined to one state. Its operatives and associates were investigated in connection with terror attacks in Ahmedabad, Pune, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Jaipur and Delhi.
From SIMI to Indian Mujahideen
The connection between Bhatkal’s terror network and the Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) is another important part of this history.
According to investigations by the National Investigation Agency and various state Anti-Terrorism Squads, several Indian Mujahideen operatives had earlier been associated with SIMI.
Yasin Bhatkal, in particular, was someone who moved through these networks before becoming a key figure in the Indian Mujahideen.
The transition of some SIMI members into the Indian Mujahideen’s operational network became a major focus of India’s counterterrorism investigations.
Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal were also linked to the organisation’s expansion and logistical operations. Intelligence agencies later traced the fugitive brothers to Karachi, Pakistan, where they were suspected of coordinating activities with Pakistan-based terror networks, including Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Another name that emerged in investigations was Abdus Subur, an MBA student arrested in Bhatkal in January 2015 during a counterterrorism operation. Investigators recovered explosives and communication equipment suspected to be connected to the Indian Mujahideen network.
A Town That Is The Hotbed Of Islamic Terror
Several terror attacks in India frequently pointed to Bhatkal and the terrorist brother duo. Now, a US Senator-elect’s links to this terror town in India through his wife raises more questions than it should. Bhatkal is a terror town that is the hotbed of Islamic radicalism as you can see from the above examples.
Now, the fact that the wife of a US Senator-elect traces her family roots to this very town is bound to invite scrutiny. Abdul El-Sayed, who has described Israel’s military operations in Gaza as genocide, has also faced allegations of links to the Muslim Brotherhood. Taken together, these associations make the couple’s background a subject of considerable interest and scrutiny.
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