KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian police said today (Dec 2) that they have detained three men, including two civil servants, suspected of being linked to the militant Islamic State group.
The detentions bring the number of people held for suspected militant links to 43 this year.
National police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said the three were detained Nov 27 and 28 in operations in Kuala Lumpur and in northern Kedah state.
Mr Khalid said in a statement that a 36-year-old suspect had joined militant groups in Syria since Dec 28 last year and returned to Malaysia on April 8.
Another two, both civil servants in their 20s, were believed to have been channelling funds to several Malaysians who want to go to Syria to join the Islamic State terror group, he said.
The spread of the Islamic state ideology has worried Prime Minister Najib Razak, who recently warned that it can cause chaos and conflict in the country. He said the government would introduce a new anti-terrorism law next year to combat the security threat.
No details have been given on the new law, but officials said it may include preventive measures such as detention without trial. Critics have urged the government not to revive the Internal Security Act, which allowed indefinite detention without trial. It was abolished in 2012 as part of political reforms.
The government said they have identified 39 Malaysians fighting in Syria and Iraq, including five who had died. AP
BEIRUT — Lebanese authorities detained a wife and suspected son of the leader of the Islamic State group several days ago, and she is being questioned, two senior Lebanese officials said today (Dec 2).
A military official said the woman and child were detained about 10 days ago while carrying fake identification cards.
Both officials refused to give further details about the woman who is believed to be one of the wives of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the group’s reclusive leader. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
The military official said the woman is a Syrian citizen and is being questioned by authorities.
The announcement of the arrest comes amid attempts to reach a prisoner-exchange deal between Lebanese authorities and the Islamic State group and the Nusra Front, al-Qaida’s Syria branch, who have been holding more than 20 Lebanese soldiers and policemen hostage since August.
They have demanded the release of Islamist prisoners being held by Lebanese authorities.
Last night, the Nusra Front threatened to kill one of the soldiers it is holding captive.
The wife’s arrest could be used as a bargaining chip for Lebanese authorities in their attempts to win the freedom of the troops.
A judicial official said the interrogation is being supervised by Lebanon’s military prosecutor, Mr Saqr Saqr. He added that a DNA test is underway to confirm that the child is the son of the detained woman.
The Lebanese daily As-Safir was the first to break the news, saying they were detained near a border crossing point with Syria. It added that the arrest was made in “coordination with foreign intelligence agencies”.
Very little is known about al-Baghdadi’s personal life, including how many wives and children he has. Conservative interpretations of Islam allow for a man to marry up to four wives.
Al-Baghdadi’s first wife is believed to be Iraqi citizen Saja al-Dulaimi, who was reportedly held by Syrian authorities and freed in a prisoner exchange with the Nusra Front earlier this year.
In March, the Nusra Front freed more than a dozen Greek Orthodox nuns, ending their four-month captivity in exchange for Syrian authorities releasing dozens of female prisoners. AP
Champions League holders Real Madrid have dropped the Christian cross on their official badge in what is reportedly a move to pacify Muslim supporters in the United Arab Emirates, a Spanish sports newspaper said.
According to daily Marca.com, images of the amended “Los Blancos” badge could be seen on credit cards issued by the National Bank of Abu Dhabi after Real Madrid president Florentino Perez announced on September 12 a three-year partnership with the leading UAE bank.
The cards, which also function as Real Madrid membership cards, feature the badge with the cross above the crown removed in order to avoid causing offence or discomfort among Muslim customers.
“I know that the local people experience every match in a special way and that our links with the UAE are constantly growing stronger,” Perez was quoted as saying.
“This agreement will help the club to keep conquering the hearts of followers in the United Arab Emirates.”
Real Madrid players Toni Kroos, Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Dani Carvajal were present at the announcement of the partnership.
The report added that the crest has not been altered outside the region. – December 1, 2014.
The SAF’s new airborne-trooper training facility (ATF) at Pasir Ris Camp was launched on Monday. The new training complex allows for all-weather, day-and-night training at its Parachute Training Facility (PTF) and Rappelling Training Facility (RTF), and aims to train about 640 trainees every year.
Where specific skills once required travelling and training at separate facilities across the island, the ATF offers a one-stop consolidation of various elements of training at a single location. These are taken care of at the RTF’s basic, intermediate and advanced training clusters, as well as the PTF’s landing, rotational and airborne trainer systems.
Most of the training is also no longer at the mercy of bad weather, with the RTF having several indoor elements, and the PTF entirely indoors. The SAF says these features make the ATF the first-of-its-kind in the world, with other military establishments still limited to specific skills training at different facilities, mostly located outdoors.
Colonel Simon Lim, Chief Commando Officer, Commander, Special Operations Task Force, said: “Having visited some of these foreign airborne schools, understanding our limited land space that we have, we wanted a one-stop integrated training facility. I think it is the whole idea of how we develop a design that is something that caters to our needs and our soldiers of this generation.”
COL Lim declined to comment about the cost to develop and build the facility.
The PTF also incorporates several automated elements, reducing the manpower requirements of training while improving on its effectiveness. For example, trainees using the new Rotational Trainer System no longer require another trainee’s assistance to simulate the complications and conditions of landing. The new system also helps to eliminate areas of human error – a trainee performing an incorrect procedure will encounter the same problems he would face in the air, where under the old system, his assistant might incorrectly judge the procedure to be correct and act accordingly.
AIRBORNE TRAINER SYSTEM SIMULATES LIVE DESCENT
Going a step further, the PTF’s Airborne Trainer System offers a complete experience closely simulating all elements of a live descent – from jumping off an aircraft to landing safely. This takes place along a monorail system designed in collaboration with the Defence Science and Technology Agency, and draws inspiration from vehicle manufacturing plants.
Such a system also allows trainers control over simulated elements encountered in an actual jump, such as the speed of descent, wind direction and drag. Cameras installed at the facility also record each trainee’s jump on video, allowing for visual review and feedback.
The SAF said the ATF’s facilities allow soldiers to progressively build up confidence and competencies in their airborne-trooper skills, with the first batch of 80 Basic Airborne Course (BAC) trainees using the ATF since Nov 17. While the SAF said it has seen an improvement in the speed and effectiveness of training, it says it has no intention to reduce the current BAC duration nor change the batch size and instructor to student ratios. Instead, the time saved will be used to give trainees more opportunities for practice before they take their first leap in the air.
“When there’s a need for manpower, some of us tend to lose out on this kind of training,” said 2LT Muhammad Faris Asnin, Operational Trooper, 1st Commando Battalion. “So when there’s the automated system in place, more trainees are able to do the training. When they go through more training, they get a boost to their confidence for the real flight itself.”
The SAF added that it is open to allowing foreign forces to visit and examine the ATF, as well as inter-ministry use of its facilities.
The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) will be sending about 50 to 60 personnel to take part in the multinational coalition efforts to combat the terrorist threat from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said as he officially opened the new training facility for the republic’s airborne troopers at Pasir Ris camp on Monday (Dec 1).
Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said planning and liaison officers have already made their way to the United States Central Command to get “a sense what the mission’s requirements are”. He said coalition partners have welcomed Singapore’s involvement and are looking forward to Singapore’s professional input.
Dr Ng said the SAF will now “synchronise” where its help is most needed.
“I would say that the reaction to our involvement is a positive one. They know that as we did in Afghanistan, we contributed very positively, by our KC-135 refuelling tankers as well as our imagery analysts,” said Dr Ng. “So coalition partners have welcomed our involvement because they expressed the opinion that we have helped previously and they look forward to our professional input.”
Dr Ng, who had a go at one of the stations at the new training facility, said the facility is a worthwhile investment as it will ensure soldiers are trained well, such as in the event of a terrorist threat.
“We take our special forces training with extra care and there are a few reasons for it,” said Dr Ng. “As you know since 911, the threat of terrorism is real and present and with the recent terrorist threat from ISIS in Iraq and Syria, this threat is uppermost in our minds, when we plan and prepare. As you know our neighbours, both Malaysia and Indonesia, have expressed concern that those who have returned from Iraq and Syria can cause harm to the residents in their countries and I would include Singapore in the same threat scenario.”
Earlier this month in Parliament, Dr Ng had said that Singapore’s efforts will include deploying a KC-135R tanker aircraft for air-to-air refuelling and an Imagery Analysis Team. He said there will be no combat troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria.
The SAF soldiers will operate from surrounding countries together with other coalition forces.
