Southeast Asia at Risk as ISIS Sets its Sights Globally

CNBC

14 January 2016

A series of explosions and gunfire that rocked Jakarta on Thursday marks a new style of militancy in Southeast Asia as the Islamic State (ISIS) increasingly mobilizes local terror groups to establish a global Islamic polity, or caliphate.

ISIS [also known as ISIL, IS or Daesh] claimed responsibility for the hours-long violence that left seven dead and over 20 injured in the city’s first mass attack since 2009. Experts say the fact that attackers used pistols, rifles and moved around on a large scale revealed a higher degree of sophistication from previous attacks on Indonesian soil, suggesting direction from ISIS.

… Should those instances occur, it could see ISIS dispatch explosives experts, combat tacticians and ideologues in the region, luring not only Southeast Asians but other nationalities as well, from Australians to Chinese Uighurs who can’t easily reach Syria, noted Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Nanyang Technological University.

“IS plans’ present a very real threat to the stability and security of Southeast Asia, a region that has hitherto enjoyed relative political stability, social harmony and economic growth,” Gunaratna added.

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Last updated on 19/01/2016