Tag: Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Captured Malaysian ISIS ‘Jihadists’ Plan to Bomb Putrajaya

While concern for the atrocities committed by Israel in Gaza reaches an all-time high, a far more insidious threat is growing, and cannot be ignored any longer.

In Syria and Iraq, a war is being fought by the Islamic State, formerly known as Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), to establish a new caliphate in the Middle East and, by extension, over Muslims worldwide.

Led by the enigmatic Abu Bakr al-Baghadi, who claims to be a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, ISIS in its original form comprised several Sunni insurgent groups supported by Al-Qaeda.

In 2006, ISIS announced its rulership over the governorates of Baghdad, Anbar, Diyala, Kirkuk, Salah al-Din, Nineveh and Babil in Iraq, before realising that an opportunity lay in the 2013 Syrian Civil War to expand its reach.

ISIS currently controls the following provinces in Syria: Al Barakah, Al Kheir, Ar-Raqqah, Al Badiya, Halab, Idlib, Hama, Damascus and the Coast, and boasts a fighting force of an estimated 4,000 jihadists.

But its ambitions extend much further than that, as it looks to dominate the Levant, which includes Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Cyprus, and parts of southern Turkey.

The actions of ISIS militants have become so extreme that the group has been denounced by al-Qaeda.

And with its claim as a Salafist regime that practices a harsh brand of Islam and Islamic law, it looks to cull non-Muslims and Muslims that do not adhere to the policies of the new caliphate of blood and violence.

Bone-chilling violence

Between January and July of this year, the violence caused by ISIS in Iraq caused some 5,500 civilian deaths and 11,660 more wounded.

The horror stories that come out of the region tell of acts that we had hoped and prayed humanity would be incapable of.

Videos circulating on the Internet show civilians and soldiers being beheaded even after succumbing to coercion to convert to Islam. Tales of crucifixion of Arab Christians abound. Minorities are forced to flee their homes or be slaughtered.

And all over the world, images and reports of bright young Muslims seduced into migrating and joining the jihad send chills up the spine of their governments.

Even more chilling, perhaps, is ISIS’s trumpeting of its actions, recently seen in its Twitter boasts of executing as many as 1,700 prisoners, posting gruesome pictures as proof.

Homegrown jihadists

“That is scary,” you may say, “But what does all that have to do with Malaysia?”

A lot more than you may think. Just a few days ago, buried under news about the current Selangor political crisis, was an interview in the South China Morning Post with Ayub Khan, the senior counter-terrorism division official at Bukit Aman.

In that interview, Ayub revealed that some 19 Malaysian jihadists captured had confessed that there are plans to storm Putrajaya and replace the government with an Islamic Syariah government through armed warfare.

Along with that, they also planned to attack a disco, a Carlsberg factory and several pubs.

Are you starting to feel scared yet?

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, however. To date, some 30 Malaysians have flown to the Middle East to join ISIS’s cause, and last May, Ahmad Tarmimi Maliki was celebrated by ISIS on its website as Malaysia’s very first suicide bomber.

In an article titled “Mujahidin Malaysia Syahid Dalam Operasi Martyrdom”, ISIS detailed how the 26-year-old, who received militant training in Port Dickson, rammed a military SUV crammed with explosives into a SWAT headquarters, preceding an attack by other jihadists. He reportedly killed 25 Iraqi soldiers in his suicide charge.

Tarmimi is not alone. According to Ayub Khan, the number of actual militants currently looking to overturn our country’s government is probably much higher than the 19 already captured.

For a nation like Malaysia that touts itself as a successful moderate Muslim nation, this news is cause for panic.

Moderation is the better option

The rise of extremism in recent years is a worrying phenomenon, with groups like ISMA declaring that the Chinese are nothing more than migrants and should be treated as such and demanding additional taxation on those they deem have grown fat on the wealth of the land. This not so far from ISIS’s demand that non-Muslims pay a tax, be executed, or leave their territories.

Add to this the fact that our young men and women are now wilfully going through training to become militant jihadists, no time has ever been riper for Malaysia to return to the middle ground.

Despite one glaring black spot in our history and the occasional tension since, our society has been plural, accepting, inclusive and peaceful.

The days are not so far gone that we do not remember visiting our friends’ homes on cultural celebrations, sharing food with them, or roving through malls and streets speaking Malay despite our different skin colours.

The rise of extremism by nature demands that such behaviour be curbed in recognition of the “superiority” of a given ideology, and that is the way of life that we are in danger of losing should we continue to allow this miasma to creep its way into our society.

That way of life is Malaysia’s pride, as well as it’s biggest strength. The pluralistic society we live in has garnered praise and is looked upon as a model for other nations experiencing the phenomenon of multiculturalism.

The acceptance and respect of other beliefs and practices is one well-rooted in the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, who strove to govern his people with fairness and equality.

Prophet Muhammad’s covenant with the Christians in Madinah is astounding to read about. It’s no wonder that the rulers that followed his path closely led Islam into a stunning era of artistic and scientific advance. And that should be our goal as well.

Friends, we need each other. No person is an island unto himself. And Malaysia, as a nation, is no different. We should return to the principles that made this country great.

It’s time for the majority as one voice to speak out against extremism and the threat it holds against our very way of life because if we stay silent, we will have only ourselves to blame when groups like ISIS begin to wage their war on our shores.

“By the grace of Allah, you (Muhammad) are gentle towards the people; if you had been stern and harsh-hearted, they would have dispersed from round about you.”—The Quran, 3:159

Source: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/highlight/2014/08/16/malaysias-isis-problem/

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August 16, 2014
Who Are the Real Extremists?

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) spotted by media wearing a luxury watch

ISIL launched their own passport earlier this week

It is difficult to define someone who recognises no limits, if the definition of limits is constantly changing.

ACCORDING to the West, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), is the world’s most dangerous extremist. Is this a fair statement?

An extremist is a transgressor, who recognises no limit in his mind, speech and acts. He could be anybody. Defined as such, an extremist is not necessarily an Arab or a Muslim, as it is commonly portrayed in the media.

He could possibly be a Christian, a Buddhist, a secular democrat, a scientist, a human rights activist or a feminist.

What makes al-Baghdadi an extremist in the eyes of the West is perhaps his terror tactics, but the same could be said of George W. Bush and Tony Blair, who are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis.

Being elected through a democratic process does not give them the right to determine the life or death of the rest of the world. But that was precisely what Bush and Blair did to the Iraqis, and that has made them the extremists in the eyes of Iraqis and Muslims in general. In the definition above, it is assumed that there must be a limit for everything for it to be rendered good and acceptable.

So an extremist is not a good person because he trespasses what others consider as the limit, regardless of whether he does not know the limit or he simply does not want to honour it knowingly.

But the real problem is, what are those limits? And on whose authority are they to be accepted as the limit that everyone has to observe?

In the man-made system known as democracy, man is said to be the measure of everything, so the limit is determined by man. But what kind of man is actually determining the fate of the world today?

What is the idea that governs his actions and behaviour, like his idea about truth and reality? About right and wrong? And about happiness?

For a secular man, reality is limited to physical reality and truth to factual scientific truth. Based on that, he has developed a peculiar idea about happiness and morality that is basically in constant change.

A secular world view lacks permanence because of its affirmation and preoccupation only with the evanescent aspect of existence. In fact, it is the world view that is built upon the rejection of anything permanent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp7BF_rLhkE

So by nature this world view actually has no place for god and religion, because it insists that what is understood by “god” and “religion” must also be open to change and reinterpretation.

Coming back to our definition of extremism, we must conclude in the first place that secularism is itself intrinsically an ideology that recognises no limit. It is based upon the rejection of a permanent truth and reality, making it impossible to agree upon a definition.

Without an agreed upon definition, how are we to know that a limit has been trespassed, effectively making the trespasser an extremist? Yet the secular western world has been all too certain that they always “know” the limit and hence the transgressor.

A correct definition would tell the limit of the thing defined. An extremist is the person who does not know the definition, or he does but does not honour it because he believes that a definition of something could and should change with time.

Not knowing the definition is a simple ignorance that can be easily remedied by imparting the knowledge. But when the person is bent on believing that no definition is forever fixed, something is appallingly wrong with his way of thinking. It is an indication that his belief is characteristically similar to that of the secular man that we have described above.

The so-called jihadis are extremists by virtue of their ignorant rejection of important definitions agreed upon by Islamic scholars throughout the ages. Inspired by the misguided Wahhabi ideology, they have caused great confusion and disunity among the Muslims worldwide.

They are the ones portrayed in the Western media as the Sunnis, yet the title has nothing to do with Islamic orthodoxy known as Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama’ah. The term “Sunni” has been hijacked by the fanatic Wahhabis, who have neither respect towards nor affiliation with authentic Islamic tradition and scholarship. They are the ones who have caused a great anxiety to the West and the world today; yet both are similar in one respect: they do not know the limit.

> Md. Asham Ahmad is Senior Fellow of Ikim’s Centre for Shariah, Law and Politics. The views expressed here are entirely his own.

Source: http://www.thestar.com.my/Opinion/Columnists/IKIM-Views/Profile/Articles/2014/07/08/Identifying-the-real-extremists/

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July 9, 2014
Five Malaysians Wanted For Suspected Militan Activities

KUALA LUMPUR: LESS than a decade after local militant groups were thought to have been neutralised, security agencies are warning of the emergence of four new terror organisations.

Intelligence sources told the New Straits Times that these four groups, permutations of earlier terror cells, such as Jemaah Islamiah and Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia, are embarking on an aggressive recruitment drive and pushing their agenda ahead. They are believed to be operating from, among others, Perak and Selangor.

Under an understanding with intelligence sources, the NST will only refer to these organisations by their acronyms: BKAW, BAJ, DIMzia and ADI.

Their endgame is the establishment of a “super” Islamic caliphate, called Daulah Islamiah Nusantara, comprising Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, southern Thailand and southern Philippines.

This was, more than a decade ago, the ultimate goals of several regional terror groups which was forced to be shelved after many of their leaders were picked up in a global terror clampdown.

Although the four groups currently operate independently of one another, sources revealed that they subscribe to the same salafi Jihadi ideology, which mirror that of terror group al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).

The cornerstone of the ideology is to fight and reject the democratic system applied by Muslim nations, including Malaysia.

Leaders and senior members of these terror groups, according to sources, had established solid links with similar groups in the region, active in places such as southern Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, as well as Philippines-based Abu Sayyaf and Isil, which has a strong presence in the Middle East.

Police are also monitoring a terror organisation based in Sabah, called Darul Islam Sabah, whose members were the last to be released from detention under the Internal Security Act.

United by a common agenda, it is believed these groups may eventually cooperate with other far-flung terror groups such as Isil, to achieve their ultimate aim.

Authorities, who have their pulse on the groups’ communications and movements, said intelligence revealed that the members of these groups, which are slowly gaining strength, had gone through training to perfect their battlefield knowledge and tradecraft, including producing their own weapons and explosives.

Experience gleaned by Malaysian militants from their Syrian and Afghan campaigns, sources believe, could also be tapped and put to use, eventually, by groups here.

They have strong local financial backers, including businessmen and professionals, as well as those whose employment status had not been ascertained.

One of the more high-profile Malaysian militants was a former drummer of a local rock outfit.

These terror groups go though great lengths to ensure that their set-up and agenda are not disrupted. In their meetings, members are constantly warned that death is the punishment for betrayal.

Authorities revealed that these groups were also behind the sending of Malaysians to be embedded in jihadist groups in Syria.

Prior to them being deployed to Syria, recruits would be sent for basic training in southern Thailand and with the Abu Sayyaf group.

The main Abu Sayyaf training camp was called Camp Hudaibiyah. It was here that recruits were taught, among others, the art of combat, urban warfare, hand-to-hand techniques, how to set up booby traps and construct improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and how to field strip weapons.

It is understood that the BKAW group, in building its strength, had been recruiting members through Facebook as well as through a series of ceramah. Their primary targets are youth and students from local institutions of higher learning.

Its members had pledged to procreate to give birth to a fresh supply of fighters.

It is understood that Ahmad Tarmimi Maliki, 26, the Malaysian linked to Isil and credited with blowing up 25 elite Iraqi soldiers at Iraq’s SWAT headquarters on May 26 in a suicide attack, was part of BKAW. He, and several others, had undergone training in Port Dickson late last year.

The NST learnt that the DIMzia, established earlier this year, was a splinter group of the BAJ. The split happened when two BAJ leaders had a falling out over the misappropriation of funds.

The sources said while the leader of DIMzia had been picked up by authorities, their members had been keeping the group active.

DIMzia had, in early April, held an orientation programme in Ijok, Perak, where members were put through rigorous physical training, which included scaling up the seventh level of a waterfall. Members were also made to soak in cold water as a test of their mental strength.

There, they were also supposed to get lessons on how to detonate a bomb using a handphone as the trigger mechanism. However, the local man who was supposed to teach them did not turn up.

It was also revealed that these groups refer heavily to “manuals” penned by militants, including Indonesian Abu Bakar Bashir, leader of Jemaah Islamiah, who in 2011 was sentenced to 15 years in prison for supporting a training camp.

Although barely a year old, ADI, which is allegedly headed by a respectable academic figure, was believed to have strong links with foreign militant groups, including Indonesia’s Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT).

Abu Bakar had, in 2008, reportedly announced his intention to create JAT, which also meant “partisans of the oneness of God”, when the Indonesian government was preparing to execute the three convicted Bali bombers. JAT is on the United States’ terror list.

Malaysian authorities share the concerns of their counterparts in the region that locals who join their militant brethren in Syria and Iraq would then return to their country of origin to “export” their knowledge and ideology.

“We are also looking at Syria and Iraq as a petri dish for local militants to establish international contacts and propagate their goals, not only in their respective countries, but in the region as a whole.

“Those countries (Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan) are real battlegrounds, unlike the basic training they went for in the southern Philippines or in other training camps.

“When they return, their insurgency tactics and battlefield knowledge would have been highly honed.

“To their supporters here, they will be seen as high-profile jihadists and it would be easier for them to pull in more young members,” a high-ranking intelligence officer said.

Police are seeking an Islamic studies lecturer with Universiti Malaya (UM) and a staffer with the Selayang Municipal Council (MPS) among five Malaysians suspected of recruiting members for militant Islamic groups in conflict-riddled Syria and the Philippines. – See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/wanted-for-islamic-militancy-um-lecturer-selayang-council-staffer#sthash.Y8dgMsTQ.dpufProfiles of the five men, complete with their pictures, were released in a wanted poster by Bukit Aman’s counter-terrorism unit.

Inspector-general of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said three of the suspects are believed to be serving the Islamic State of Iraq and The Levant (ISIL) while the other two are members of Darul Islam Sabah, a group now affiliated with the Abu Sayyaf terrorist sect based in South Philippines.

Among those identified as ISIL recruiters is Dr Mahmud Ahmad, otherwise known as Abu Hanadzalah, a lecturer attached with Universiti Malaya’s (UM) Academy of Islamic Studies faculty.

Also linked to ISIL is Mohd Najib Husen – who also goes by the name of Abraham – the operator of a photocopy and stationaries shop in UM, and Muhammad Joraimee Awang Raimee or Abu Nur, a secretariat staff with the Selayang city council.

Linked to the Darul Islam Sabah group, meanwhile, were Mohd Amin Baco and Jeknal Adil, both from Tawau, Sabah.

Polis Diraja Malaysia (Royal Malaysia Police)

Polis Diraja Malaysia (Royal Malaysia Police)

Polis Diraja Malaysia (Royal Malaysia Police)

Polis Diraja Malaysia (Royal Malaysia Police)

Polis Diraja Malaysia (Royal Malaysia Police)

Polis Diraja Malaysia (Royal Malaysia Police)

Polis Diraja Malaysia (Royal Malaysia Police)

Source: https://www.facebook.com/PolisDirajaMalaysia

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/wanted-for-islamic-militancy-um-lecturer-selayang-council-staffer

http://www.nst.com.my/node/7702

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July 3, 2014
Syrian girl stoned to death for using Facebook account

Rakka, Syria: A young girl was stoned to death by sunni-militant groups in Syria for operating Facebook account.

Fatoum Al-Jassem was taken to a Sharia court after she was caught using the social networking website, in Rakka, Syria. The Sharia court declared that using a Facebook account amounts to adultery and the girl should be punished by stoning, according to a news report published in Iran’s FARS news agency which quoted a report published in Arabic-language Al-Rai Al-Youm.

The members of the Al-Qaeda group in Iraq, also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) were behind the incident.

The ISIS, or Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is an hardline Islamic group present in Iraq. They have been fighting an active war against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria and the government forces in Iraq.

The group’s ideology is based on extremely strict interpretation of Islam.

Ironically, the Al-Nusra Front operates a Facebook account of its own.

Source: http://bit.ly/1f2Ezbb

February 16, 2014