Malaysian police have detained 20 alleged Islamic militants, including a leading member of an Indonesian extremist group and others believed to be planning to fight in the strife-torn southern Philippines.
Authorities said they were the latest arrests of alleged extremists in Muslim-majority Malaysia, as fears grow militants who had been fighting with the Islamic State Group overseas are heading back to Southeast Asia after the jihadists’ losses in the Middle East.
Police said the arrests were made in nationwide raids from late November to mid-December.
Among those detained was an alleged senior leader of the Indonesian IS-linked militant outfit Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, which has been blamed for several recent deadly attacks in its home country.
Police said, the 24-year-old was picked up in the southern Malaysian state of Johor, without identifying him.
A 50-year-old Filipino suspected of trying to recruit people to join Philippine kidnap-for-ransom gang Abu Sayyaf was arrested in Kuala Lumpur.
A militant from an unidentified North African country who had previously fought with i-s in the Middle East was also arrested at an airport in Kuala Lumpur.
Several Filipinos, Malaysians and Indonesians were detained on Borneo island, also suspected of planning to join militants in the Philippines.
Malaysia has rounded up hundreds of suspected Islamic militants in recent years but has not suffered a major attack. (Agence France Presse)
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