KOTA KINABALU, Jan 28 — A local Islamic missionary group was mistaken as Islamic State (IS) militants while walking along the roadside in a village along the Keningau–Tambunan road in Sabah’s interior, causing panic among villagers.

The Jemaah Tabligh group of about ten was walking between the districts, dressed in traditional prayer attire that included the kopiah when people in their cars stopped to stare at them.

“They pretended to be on their phones but we later realised they were taking photos of us. Next thing we know, they are spreading it on social media – Facebook, SMSes and Whatsapp and accusing us of being terrorists from ISIS among other things,” said Afza Nizam Noor, one of the members of the group.

The 37-year old from Keningau said that the villagers were very hostile and there were some who would not even let them through the villages.

“We were not carrying any weapons or anything. Just the Quran and some cooking utensils. How can they assume we were dangerous?” he said.

Keningau district police chief deputy superintendent Douglas Nyeging Taong when contacted said that the villagers had probably acted out of fear for their safety, given the current widespread infamy of IS in the news.

“The villagers probably feared strangers entering their village and was suspicious of the new faces. While they have had similar missionary groups before, the timing now is off and safety fears are higher,” he said.

Douglas said he had the group come in to the station to have their particulars recorded and later confirmed their identities with the district mosque that was expecting them.

“We later told the people they were not a threat so it’s settled. They were just scared for their safety,” he said, denying that the incident was religiously incited.

A photo taken of the group walking on the roadside has been spreading on Facebook with thousands of shares, with some claiming they were IS terrorists in Sabah, while others claimed they were groups of Muslim evangelists.

Many comments, however, ridiculed the fact that they were mistaken for terrorists.

One user, Mohammad Hasbullah Sanmin, Afza’s brother, cautioned the public not to assume the worst of the group who was making their way on foot from village to village and staying in mosques and meeting with local Muslims.

“They did not mean to harm or disturb anybody but they were almost beaten up and pelted by the local villagers. Some said they saw more than a hundred of them, but it was just the 10 of them walking on foot. No one believed them and they wanted to beat them,” he said in a Facebook post.

He pleaded with the public not to spread rumours about them being terrorists.