Founded in 1999, the Islamic State terrorist organisation has become one of the most notorious groups to operate with a presence across multiple countries. Often referred to as IS or ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), the group gained notoriety in 2014 after they managed to successfully drive out Iraqi militant forces from key cities during the Anbar campaign before subsequently capturing the city of Mosul.
Since then, they have claimed responsibility for a string of terrorist attacks around the world, including one that took place in Malaysia back in June 2016 during the UEFA Euro 2016 match between Italy and Spain, leaving eight people injured.
Group with ties to Islamic State allegedly found in Malaysia
Now, it has been claimed that the Islamic State has announced that they now have a presence in Malaysia following the launch of their very own media platform. Dubbed the Al Malaka Media Centre and tied to a number of other media outlets originating in Indonesia and the Philippines, news agency The Vibes reports that they are believed to be throwing their support behind an undisclosed ‘radical political party and an established radical organisation’.
Content from the platform is disseminated through the Dark Web, which is a portion of the Internet that is not indexed by common search engines and requires the use of specific browsers such as Tor to access, explains Finnish-based think tank Nordic Counter-Terrorism Network’s (NCTN) Cyber Counter-Terrorism Division, who were the first to identify it.
An ominous image that was shared by the Al Malaka Media Centre depicts the Petronas Twin Towers with IS flags perched on the tip of each spire, followed by the imagery of a burning jet in the background. Superimposed on the top of the image of the iconic landmark is a headline that reads ‘Hari Penaklukan Segera Tiba’ (the day of conquest is soon upon us).
As a potential security risk to the country, NCTN director Andrin Raj said that it is possible that they could trigger small-scaled terrorist acts domestically.
“Its purpose would be to destabilise the current multiracial government. They have smaller chat groups within Malaysia, where they share religious views and propaganda and recruit members.
“In terms of propaganda, they supply radical ideologies from different clerics, including radical Malaysian preachers,” he told The Vibes.
No cause for worry, claims Home Minister
With that said, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail assures Malaysians that the group’s presence is no cause for panic or concern, and says that local authorities have been aware and are tracking their attempts to further extend their reach within the country.
He adds that they are also cooperating with ‘international security and counter-terrorism partners’ in this regard.
“Any attempt to disrupt law and order, the security of the country, the safety of our people, and our way of life will be dealt with severely,” he said.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani further echoes this sentiment, explaining that local law enforcement authorities have been working on monitoring local social media communities for any propaganda material being disseminated by the terrorist outfit here.
“The police had already been tracing and monitoring the spread of propaganda through social media which they used to garner support for groups linked to IS.” he said according to The Star.
As reported by The Diplomat, the presence of the Islamic State within the Southeast Asian region is believed to be led by a man known as Jer Mimbantas, who also goes under the nom de guerre of Abu Zacharia.
The most recent arrests of Malaysian IS militants occurred in 2021, when British newspaper The Times reported that the Taliban had arrested six individuals in Afghanistan owing to their ties to the organisation. A Taliban official claims that two of them are Malaysians.
Locally, 16 suspected IS militants were arrested by the Royal Malaysian Police back in 2019 in a coordinated operation that was simultaneously held across six states in the country.
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