Image above: Night view of the twin tower in KL
Police are on alert and have increased patrols in
Jalan Alor and surrounding areas in capital city Kuala Lumpur following
credible information on a potential terrorist attack following the arrests of
several militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) in the past
month.
"Yes, we are on alert. More policemen have been
sent to the ground," a Kuala Lumpur police source told The Malaysian
Insider. "It is believed to be retaliation for the
crackdown against the militants."
The US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur had
also advised its citizens to avoid Jalan Alor and surrounding areas today.
Last month, Malaysian police arrested 10 suspected
Isis members in multiple raids across the country.
Those arrested included six security forces personnel,
a former interior designer and a kindergarten teacher, it was reported.
The suspects – eight men and two women – were detained
by the special counter-terrorism division in six separate areas, including
Kuala Lumpur. Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar
said then that the suspected militants were believed to be plotting an attack
on Malaysian soil, and were collecting funds to assist Malaysian Isis members
wanting to travel to Syria.
The Diplomat, a current-affairs magazine, reported two
days ago that Indonesia’s counter-terrorism chief has warned that the Isis is
collaborating with smugglers to bring foreign fighters to Indonesia from
Malaysia.
Saud Usman Nasution, head of Indonesia’s
counter-terrorism agency, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the
Isis fighters arrived from Malaysia in Sumatra, after which they are taken to
Poso in central Sulawesi, believed to be a training ground for Isis fighters.
“We see that some foreign terrorist fighters from
overseas come to Indonesia. First they leave Malaysia and head for Pekanbaru
(Sumatra) to Puncak (west Java) — it’s all facilitated by asylum seeker
networks, then from Puncak they would leave to Makassar and Poso, with
facilitation from Isis network,” he said.
“So we need to stay vigilant, more so because there is
information that in Malaysia, there are thousands, a lot of foreign terrorist
fighters there who are about to be deployed – we don’t know where to – under
the network,” he added.
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