Suspected JI member's dad: His character changed after failed marriage

From Asia One (Singapore) (Dec 18): Suspected JI member's dad: His character changed after failed marriage

PETALING JAYA - The father of suspected Jemaah Islamiyah bomber Mohd Noor Fikrie Abd Kahar believes his son became a terrorist after his bitter divorce two years ago. Retired cop Abd Kahar Sirul, 53, said he noticed his son's character change after the disappointment of his failed marriage to a local woman whom he had wed in 2005. The marriage produced three children aged four, five and six now. "After the divorce, he spent a lot of time on social media. When we questioned him about his Facebook postings which touched a lot on jihad and the fight to protect Islam, he brushed us off." He said that shortly after this, Mohd Noor Fikrie moved out and lived with a friend from Sabah at a rented home in Tanjung Kling, Klebang. Abd Kahar said he never imagined his son to be capable of taking another person's life.

Mohd Noor Fikrie, 26, was shot dead by Davao police on Friday night after they received intelligence that he had a bomb and was planning a terrorist attack on the city. Together with his Filipina wife Annabelle Nieva Lee, the couple were checking out of the Sampaguita Hotel when they were cornered by local police. Mohd Noor Fikrie tried to flee with a backpack bomb and a mobile detonation device, which he threatened to set off if the police made any move to arrest him. He was shot dead by the police while his wife was arrested and is currently being interrogated. The bomb, made of 60mm mortar, was later recovered from the backpack and defused.

The former sergeant major, who served in the force for 27 years, explained that he tried calling his son many times after he moved out but his son never answered or returned his calls. "When I visited his rented house in May, his housemate said my son had moved out and gone to Kuala Lumpur ," he said. He then asked the help of an acquaintance with the Immigration Department to conduct a check on his son and discovered that he had left to the Philippines from Labuan on April 27. Not long after that, Mohd Noor Fikrie sent a message via Facebook to his mother that he had banked in a sum of money for his children's expenses but did not specify where he was except that he was in the Philippines. Mohd Noor Fikrie is the eldest of four siblings. His younger brother Mohd Noor Amin died in an accident in 2010. Abd Kahar said once his son's remains were brought back, he would be buried at the Benut Islamic cemetery in Pontian, Johor.

Meanwhile, in Malacca, Mohd Noor Fikrie's former mother-in-law, 51, who declined to be named, described him as "a responsible caring husband and a good son-in-law". "We really never thought that such thing could happen to him," she said at her home at Kampung Bahagia in Tanjung Kling here yesterday. She said her eldest daughter Siti Sarah Raihana, 23, got married to Mohd Noor Fikrie, who was a technician, seven years ago. "I last saw him in April when he visited me and the children at home," she said. "He brought snacks for the children and spent time playing with them. They were happy. He gave me money when he left."

http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Malaysia/Story/A1Story20121218-390187.html