(From left) An Abu Sayyaf fighter with Malaysian militants Mahmud Ahmad, Muhammad Joraimee Awang Raimee and Muamar Gadafi.PHOTO: BUKIT AMAN SPECIAL BRANCH COUNTER TERRORISM DIVISION
Malaysian police said on Monday (Jan 23) they had arrested four people, among them three foreigners, with links to an ISIS cell based out of the southern Philippines.
Muslim-majority Malaysia has been on high alert since an attack last January by ISIS-linked militants in Jakarta, the capital of neighbouring Indonesia.
The cell, operating out of the province of Mindanao, was led by a former university lecturer, Mahmud Ahmad, who is known to be a Malaysian member of ISIS, Malaysian Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said in a statement.
He said one of the arrested suspects, a Philippine man, had been instructed to recruit new followers from Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, and arrange for their travel to Mindanao.
The suspect, a watch-seller, was arrested in Sabah along with a Malaysian woman who was planning to marry and travel with him to the Philippines, Mr Khalid said.
"The two are suspected of having links with Daesh groups in Bangladesh," Mr Khalid said, using another name for ISIS.
Mr Khalid said Mahmud's cell had joined up with the Philippine militant group, Abu Sayyaf, and pledged its allegiance to the group's leader and the country's most-wanted man, Isnilon Hapilon.
Last June, militants who claimed to be fighting for ISIS said in a video they had chosen Isnilon to lead the group's Southeast Asian faction.
The video, posted on social media, marked ISIS's acceptance of allegiance by Southeast Asian supporters and called for them to launch attacks in the region.
Malaysia has arrested more than 250 people between 2013 and 2016 over militant activities linked to ISIS.
http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/malaysia-arrests-four-linked-to-isis-cell-in-philippines
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