Last week’s grenade attack on a nightclub in Selangor is the first successful Islamic State (IS) attack in the country, Malaysia police have confirmed, marking a breakthrough by the terror group after numerous plots were previously thwarted by Malaysian authorities.

Police chief Khalid Abu Bakar warned on Monday (July 4) that the attack, which injured eight people, was the first step in a series of planned attacks by the militant group. He said the attack was carried out by locals under the instruction of Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi, a known Malaysian IS recruiter based in Syria.

The breakthrough came after police arrested 15 suspects believed to be involved in terrorist-related activities in a string of operations in Kedah, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca and Penang following the nightclub incident on June 28. Several sharp weapons as well as IS flags and ideology materials were seized during the raids.

The arrests included two male suspects who threw the hand grenade at the patrons of the nightclub.

… Professor Rohan Gunaratna, who heads the RSIS’ International Centre for Terrorism Research and Political Violence, said the attack demonstrate that despite continuing counter terrorism operations, IS’ ideology has spread and established a regional presence in South-east Asia.

Prof Gunaratna, who first noted that the nightclub attack was the work of IS in a commentary published on RSIS website on June 29, said the nature of terrorism has changed from group attacks to networked attacks, making it a challenge even for the best security and intelligence services to prevent all the attacks.