IS-linked terror cell crippled

KUALA LUMPUR: Police have crippled a local terrorist cell, which is linked to the Islamic State (IS), with the arrest of 12 people and the seizure of a large amount of nitrates meant to build explosives commonly used by militants.
Police said the group were making plans to blow up several strategic locations including government-owned buildings.
Raiding police parties seized about 20kg of ammonia nitrate and 20kg of potassium nitrate, both industrial fertiliser powders commonly used in plantations.
An IS flag was also seized during the raid.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said the federal police counter terrorism unit of the Special Branch nabbed 12 members of the militant cell in raids at Hulu Langat, Cheras and other locations here and in Selangor on Saturday and today.
“The suspects, aged between 17 and 41, were arrested on suspicion of planning attacks on targets in the Klang Valley including government buildings. The planned attacks were orders from a senior IS leader in Syria to retaliate against a secular Islamic country they deemed as their enemy. It was also a response to the intense police clampdown on those linked to the IS.”
He said among other items seized from the suspects were two litres of a liquid believed to be kerosene, 9-volt batteries, an alarm motor, PVC pipes with covers, remote control units, wires of various sizes and weighing machines – all of which are ingredients and equipment used to produce homemade bombs.
He said all 12 suspects were held and remanded under anti-terrorism laws of the Penal Code and Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma).
With the recent arrests, police have held 105 Malaysians and foreigners involved in militancy here since 2013. The youngest was a 14-year-old girl who was detained minutes before she boarded a flight to join the IS in Syria two months ago.
About 70 Malaysians had managed to sneak out of the country to fight alongside IS rebels in Syria. Six of them have been killed to date in gun battles and aerial strikes.