Islamic State Threat at Our Doorstep

New Straits Times

04 February 2016

On Jan 14, Islamic State (IS) terrorists mounted a bloody attack in a busy shopping area in downtown Jakarta, Indonesia, killing seven people, and injuring 24 others. In its statement on social media, IS admitted that its “soldiers” were behind the armed attack, stating that they were targeting Westerners from countries fighting them in Iraq and Syria.

Downtown Jakarta became a battlefield between the armed gunmen and security forces for four hours before the attack was finally stopped. The United States embassy subsequently issued a statement saying that no American citizens had been caught up in the attack, but warned that “further incidents are possible”.

… International terrorism expert Professor Rohan Gunaratna of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, believes that Southeast Asia is facing a sustained threat of terrorist attacks, and for Malaysia, “the threat of terrorism is imminent”.

“If an IS state is declared in Basilan, it will not be confined to the Sulu archipelago. It will extend to Sabah because they want to claim the original territory of the Sulu sultanate,” Gunaratna said.

Categories: