KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 25 — Malaysia is in the scope of regional militants because it is viewed as a “secular” nation, counter-terrorism chief Datuk Ayob Khan said.
The senior policeman referred to a recent video said to be by Katibah Nusantara, the Malaysian-Indonesian wing of global terror group Islamic State (IS), titled “Mesej Awam Kepada Malaysia” [“Public Message for Malaysia”] that surfaced recently, saying it was a direct retaliation against security forces fighting militants.
“It further proves that IS, especially the Katibah group, views our country as secular, and as such makes the government and the people as its targets. This is no doubt in retaliation against our security forces’ actions against them,” Ayob was quoted telling local daily The Star in a report published today.
“We have to be constantly on our toes and cannot afford to let our guard down,” he added.
In the video, Katibah declared in Malay that it will not “bow down to the democratic system of governance” and warned that efforts to catch their members would only see them grow in numbers.
Bukit Aman’s counter-terrorism unit had yesterday arrested seven people suspected with links to IS believed to be plotting attacks in Malaysia.
One of the suspects was said to have received commands from the mastermind of the deadly Jakarta attacks earlier this month.
A Pew Research Centre study last year on the attitude of Muslims towards IS showed that 11 per cent of Malaysians supported the Muslim militant group that has claimed responsibility over the January 14 bombings in Jakarta, Indonesia, that killed four civilians and four terrorists.
The police recently arrested a 28-year-old man at an LRT station here, who was suspected of having travelled from Terengganu to stage a suicide attack at a karaoke outlet or a pub in Kuala Lumpur.
Two Malaysian suicide bombers blew themselves up separately in Iraq and Syria earlier this month, killing more than 30 people.
