Post by SA Hunter on Aug 19, 2015 19:13:14 GMT 8
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3193971/The-terrifying-rise-ISIS-East-Terror-horde-recruits-tens-thousands-sick-cause-south-east-Asia.html
ISIS issued a rallying cry to the Muslims of Indonesia last week by sharing a disturbing picture of a baby lying next to an AK47 and hand grenade.
A note beside the sleeping toddler, signed off with 'Indonesia', read: 'Uncles and aunts come and fight in Syria for jihad wherever you are.'
While the terror group continues its battle for superiority in Iraq and Syria, Islamic State's ideology and propaganda videos are drawing in Muslim supporters from as far as south-east Asia.
Thousands from countries such as Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand the Philippines and Malaysia have joined ISIS on the battlefield in the Middle East. And the terror group has 'tens of thousands' of supporters and sympathisers in those countries.
Counter-terrorism experts told MailOnline these ISIS-trained fighters could now return home to execute lone wolf attacks, recruit more extremists and extend Islamic State's caliphate even further around the world.
Radical hate preachers wield dangerous influence even from inside prisons where they radicalise other militants and 'oath-taking ceremonies' to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi take place freely.
They also warn that ISIS could start recruiting the Muslim Rohingya people who are fiercely persecuted in their home country of Burma and refused asylum by neighbouring Asian nations.
At least three violent and active militant groups in the region have already pledged allegiance to ISIS.
They are the Indonesian group Jemma Islamiyah which was responsible for the 2012 Bali Bombings, the Filipino group Abu Sayyaf which beheaded a village official this year and the Bangsomoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, also from the Philippines, who regularly clash with police forces.
'ISIS poses a real threat to south-east Asia,' a counter-terrorism expert at the RAND think-tank told MailOnline.
Dr Colin Clarke added that after seizing land in the Middle East, and causing havoc in north Africa, 'south-east Asia is the logical next spot for ISIS to occupy'.
He said: 'In countries like Indonesia and the Philippines, there are scores of aggrieved Muslims who previously - or currently - sympathized with groups like Jemma Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf Group.'
More than 500 Indonesians have joined Islamic State on the battlefield in Iraq and Syria and experts believe the country, home to 200 million Muslims, is a 'ripe location' for further recruitment.
A worrying survey conducted by the Pew Research Centre discovered 72 per cent of Muslim Indonesians want shariah law to be implemented in the country.
Some, like Muhammad Al-Indunisy, died in the Middle East. The teenage jihadi reportedly blew himself up in Syria in 2013. But around 200 of these battle-hardened militants are thought to have returned home.
Its last government was so worried about the rise of extremism that it banned verbal support for ISIS, clamped down on overseas travel to support terror groups and revoked citizenship of those suspected of doing so.
Experts say that under the new Prime Minister Joko Widodo, who came to power in October 2014, extremism has flourished on the streets and inside the country's prisons where radical hate preachers spread ISIS propaganda and recruit new extremists.
Indonesian prisons have become 'a central hub for terrorist recruitment,' a terrorism expert who works as a senior analyst at the RAND think-tank said.
Dr Peter Chalk told MailOnline that 'a sense of jihadist solidarity has been allowed to develop among inmates'.
“'Even in maximum-security penitentiaries, prisoners have enjoyed a remarkable degree of latitude to not only access ISIS literature and translations but also to issue proclamations of allegiance ”
This is partly down to 'corruption, overcrowding, organized violence, protection rackets, the limited nature of available intelligence on detainees and their activities and poorly managed, trained and paid staff'.
He added: 'Even in maximum-security penitentiaries, prisoners have enjoyed a remarkable degree of latitude to not only access ISIS literature and translations but also to issue proclamations of allegiance.
One of the most dangerous and influential prisoners to sell his soul to ISIS was the former leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah terror group which slaughtered over 200 in the 2002 Bali Bombings.
On the outside, radical cleric Abu Bakar Ba'ayshir inspired his fanatical followers to riot and attack police members.
And in August 2014, he was pictured inside Nusakambangan maximum security prison, surrounded by his supporters who held up the notorious jihadi flag behind him.
Another imprisoned Islamist, Aman Abdurrahman, one of Indonesia's most influential hate preachers, is also a vocal supporter of ISIS.
He was arrested twice - first for running a bomb-making class in 2004 and secondly for his involvement in a jihadi training camp in the Aceh region of Indonesia in 2010.
One of his closest minions Salim Mubarok is one of ISIS's chief recruiters from Indonesia, according to a detailed report by the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict.
The statements made by Abdurrahman and Ba'ayshir, even from inside prison where they have access to mobile phones, 'are enormously important', Dr Chalk added.
'The former is a major force within the Forum of Islamic Law Activists (FAKSI), which has openly defended ISIS and has urged Indonesians to support its cause.
'The latter... retains enormous influence in radical Islamist circles in Indonesia. Both have pledged allegiance to ISIS and both are widely believed to have inspired the some 2,000 Indonesians that have stated their commitment to support the group.'
Only this month, Indonesian police arrested two members who posed as 'traditional healers' to recruit locals after they found ISIS propaganda and flags on their confiscated laptops, the Jakarta Post reported.
A propaganda video released in March revealed ISIS's south-east Asian branch has also been training young boys to become the next generation of jihadi killers.
It showed at least a dozen young children were filmed carrying assault rifles at an ISIS-run school where they were taught Arabic, as well as weapons training and martial arts.
During the video, the so-called 'Cubs of the Caliphate' say they are not afraid to face 'the enemies of God' and promise to become 'mujahideen' - or soldiers of God.
The Philippines-based terror group the Black Flag Movement - known as the Khalifa Islamiah Mindanao - has also declared its support for ISIS.
The group was responsible for detonating a car bomb which killed eight in the southern Catabato City in July 2013 and another which killed six in August.
In the same month, the Philippines' former President Fidel Ramos said 100 young Filipino-Muslims had traveled to Iraq where they got training and some of these volunteers intend to return home so they 'can launch jihad'.
Earlier this year, the country's Foreign Ministry claimed that number had grown to more than 200.
ISIS's recruitment drive in the country's second largest city of Mindanao was when a student confessed that the terror group was trying to lure in university students, the Asian Journal reported.
He claimed the group was offering around £970 and other benefits to those who train to become ISIS fighters.
It emerged today that Abu Sayyaf, another terror group operating in the country, have beheaded a village official from the Aliguay island in central Philippines.
Rodolfo Boligao was abducted in May, along with two members of the Philippine Coast Guard, and his headless body was discovered in Sulu yesterday evening.
'While ISIL's influence in the Philippines is not thought to be as extensive as either Malaysia or Indonesia, there are definite indications that the group has sought to extend its reach to the country,' Dr Peter Chalk told MailOnline.
He said the fact that hundreds have travelled to 'receive training' in Iraq was 'further warning that many of these volunteers intended to return to the Philippines to wage a jihad war as hardened and experienced Islamists'.
ISIS has previously shared propaganda videos showing young Malaysian children training with weapons, and two Malaysian men were identified in separate footage of a beheading in Syria.
Counter-terrorism police identified them as Mohd Faris Anuar, 20, and Muhamad Wanndy Muhamad Jedi, 25.
Dr Peter Chalk said: 'Malaysia is generally regarded as the main focal point for ISIS support and influence.
Between 39 to 105 Malaysians have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS. Although this number does not seem great, 'at the high end this figure would place Malaysia – a state of 30 million people – as among the top sources of foreign recruits in the wider Asian region,' Dr Chalk said.
“South-east Asia is a key recruitment centre for ISIS... The threat is no longer over there, it is over here... This is why Singapore takes terrorism, and in particular ISIS, very seriously”
The majority of those who left for the Middle East are still thought to be there, but a small number of militants are known to have returned to Malaysia.
Dr Clarke told MailOnline: 'In the 21st Century, small numbers of individuals or small cells of radicalized militants can cause destruction far greater than their numbers suggest,'
These returnees are thought to be playing 'an increasingly active role in encouraging heightened militancy in the country' and as many as 30 have been detained for their links to ISIS in April and May alone.
In April, Malaysian police foiled a deadly bomb attack in its capital Kuala Lumpur by arresting 12 people linked to the extremist group.
Among the explosive materials they seized were 20kg of ammonium nitrate, 20kg of potassium nitrate and two litres of kerosene, two remote controls, batteries and two remote controls.
Singapore's prime minister admitted in May that 'south-east Asia is a key recruitment centre for ISIS'.
Lee Hsien Loong said: 'The threat is no longer over there, it is over here... This is why Singapore takes terrorism, and in particular ISIS, very seriously.'
ISIS already has a foot-hold in these countries but experts are now warning that ISIS could turn to the Rohingya Muslim community fleeing Burma to bolster its numbers.
'Al Qaeda, Islamic State and other threat groups are reaching out to the Rohingiyas, offering them opportunities to train and conduct terrorist attacks,' international terrorism expert Dr Rohan Gunaratna told MailOnline.
He has urged the international community to address the issue. More than 100,000 Rohingya Muslims have tried to leave the country after years of battling with country's Buddhists
More than 3,500 starving migrants arrived in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia in May alone, and the UN estimated that 2,500 more were still trapped at sea the monsoon season approached.
'When people are marginalized and people are as demoralized as the Rohingya... then they fall prey to the offer of community that [ISIS] is reaching out with,' the CEO of the Partners Relief and Development charity told Mission Network News.
Hundreds of them have drowned trying to cross the treacherous waters of the Straits of Malacca to reach other south-east Asian countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand - where they are mostly refused entry and towed back out into the water.
They are an easy target for ISIS, according to Steve Gumaer, who added: 'They're [ISIS] reaching out to families, not just fighters, and they're offering them a new narrative on what's happening in the world.
'You have experienced being disenfranchised, like we have; we will give you a place in our society.'
'One of the concerns that leading thinkers have right now is those marginalized Muslims in South East Asia, in Burma. [They're] only a step away from Indonesia and Malaysia where there's already a clear recruitment strategy there.'
ISIS issued a rallying cry to the Muslims of Indonesia last week by sharing a disturbing picture of a baby lying next to an AK47 and hand grenade.
A note beside the sleeping toddler, signed off with 'Indonesia', read: 'Uncles and aunts come and fight in Syria for jihad wherever you are.'
While the terror group continues its battle for superiority in Iraq and Syria, Islamic State's ideology and propaganda videos are drawing in Muslim supporters from as far as south-east Asia.
Thousands from countries such as Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand the Philippines and Malaysia have joined ISIS on the battlefield in the Middle East. And the terror group has 'tens of thousands' of supporters and sympathisers in those countries.
Counter-terrorism experts told MailOnline these ISIS-trained fighters could now return home to execute lone wolf attacks, recruit more extremists and extend Islamic State's caliphate even further around the world.
Radical hate preachers wield dangerous influence even from inside prisons where they radicalise other militants and 'oath-taking ceremonies' to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi take place freely.
They also warn that ISIS could start recruiting the Muslim Rohingya people who are fiercely persecuted in their home country of Burma and refused asylum by neighbouring Asian nations.
At least three violent and active militant groups in the region have already pledged allegiance to ISIS.
They are the Indonesian group Jemma Islamiyah which was responsible for the 2012 Bali Bombings, the Filipino group Abu Sayyaf which beheaded a village official this year and the Bangsomoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, also from the Philippines, who regularly clash with police forces.
'ISIS poses a real threat to south-east Asia,' a counter-terrorism expert at the RAND think-tank told MailOnline.
Dr Colin Clarke added that after seizing land in the Middle East, and causing havoc in north Africa, 'south-east Asia is the logical next spot for ISIS to occupy'.
He said: 'In countries like Indonesia and the Philippines, there are scores of aggrieved Muslims who previously - or currently - sympathized with groups like Jemma Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf Group.'
More than 500 Indonesians have joined Islamic State on the battlefield in Iraq and Syria and experts believe the country, home to 200 million Muslims, is a 'ripe location' for further recruitment.
A worrying survey conducted by the Pew Research Centre discovered 72 per cent of Muslim Indonesians want shariah law to be implemented in the country.
Some, like Muhammad Al-Indunisy, died in the Middle East. The teenage jihadi reportedly blew himself up in Syria in 2013. But around 200 of these battle-hardened militants are thought to have returned home.
Its last government was so worried about the rise of extremism that it banned verbal support for ISIS, clamped down on overseas travel to support terror groups and revoked citizenship of those suspected of doing so.
Experts say that under the new Prime Minister Joko Widodo, who came to power in October 2014, extremism has flourished on the streets and inside the country's prisons where radical hate preachers spread ISIS propaganda and recruit new extremists.
Indonesian prisons have become 'a central hub for terrorist recruitment,' a terrorism expert who works as a senior analyst at the RAND think-tank said.
Dr Peter Chalk told MailOnline that 'a sense of jihadist solidarity has been allowed to develop among inmates'.
“'Even in maximum-security penitentiaries, prisoners have enjoyed a remarkable degree of latitude to not only access ISIS literature and translations but also to issue proclamations of allegiance ”
This is partly down to 'corruption, overcrowding, organized violence, protection rackets, the limited nature of available intelligence on detainees and their activities and poorly managed, trained and paid staff'.
He added: 'Even in maximum-security penitentiaries, prisoners have enjoyed a remarkable degree of latitude to not only access ISIS literature and translations but also to issue proclamations of allegiance.
One of the most dangerous and influential prisoners to sell his soul to ISIS was the former leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah terror group which slaughtered over 200 in the 2002 Bali Bombings.
On the outside, radical cleric Abu Bakar Ba'ayshir inspired his fanatical followers to riot and attack police members.
And in August 2014, he was pictured inside Nusakambangan maximum security prison, surrounded by his supporters who held up the notorious jihadi flag behind him.
Another imprisoned Islamist, Aman Abdurrahman, one of Indonesia's most influential hate preachers, is also a vocal supporter of ISIS.
He was arrested twice - first for running a bomb-making class in 2004 and secondly for his involvement in a jihadi training camp in the Aceh region of Indonesia in 2010.
One of his closest minions Salim Mubarok is one of ISIS's chief recruiters from Indonesia, according to a detailed report by the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict.
The statements made by Abdurrahman and Ba'ayshir, even from inside prison where they have access to mobile phones, 'are enormously important', Dr Chalk added.
'The former is a major force within the Forum of Islamic Law Activists (FAKSI), which has openly defended ISIS and has urged Indonesians to support its cause.
'The latter... retains enormous influence in radical Islamist circles in Indonesia. Both have pledged allegiance to ISIS and both are widely believed to have inspired the some 2,000 Indonesians that have stated their commitment to support the group.'
Only this month, Indonesian police arrested two members who posed as 'traditional healers' to recruit locals after they found ISIS propaganda and flags on their confiscated laptops, the Jakarta Post reported.
A propaganda video released in March revealed ISIS's south-east Asian branch has also been training young boys to become the next generation of jihadi killers.
It showed at least a dozen young children were filmed carrying assault rifles at an ISIS-run school where they were taught Arabic, as well as weapons training and martial arts.
During the video, the so-called 'Cubs of the Caliphate' say they are not afraid to face 'the enemies of God' and promise to become 'mujahideen' - or soldiers of God.
The Philippines-based terror group the Black Flag Movement - known as the Khalifa Islamiah Mindanao - has also declared its support for ISIS.
The group was responsible for detonating a car bomb which killed eight in the southern Catabato City in July 2013 and another which killed six in August.
In the same month, the Philippines' former President Fidel Ramos said 100 young Filipino-Muslims had traveled to Iraq where they got training and some of these volunteers intend to return home so they 'can launch jihad'.
Earlier this year, the country's Foreign Ministry claimed that number had grown to more than 200.
ISIS's recruitment drive in the country's second largest city of Mindanao was when a student confessed that the terror group was trying to lure in university students, the Asian Journal reported.
He claimed the group was offering around £970 and other benefits to those who train to become ISIS fighters.
It emerged today that Abu Sayyaf, another terror group operating in the country, have beheaded a village official from the Aliguay island in central Philippines.
Rodolfo Boligao was abducted in May, along with two members of the Philippine Coast Guard, and his headless body was discovered in Sulu yesterday evening.
'While ISIL's influence in the Philippines is not thought to be as extensive as either Malaysia or Indonesia, there are definite indications that the group has sought to extend its reach to the country,' Dr Peter Chalk told MailOnline.
He said the fact that hundreds have travelled to 'receive training' in Iraq was 'further warning that many of these volunteers intended to return to the Philippines to wage a jihad war as hardened and experienced Islamists'.
ISIS has previously shared propaganda videos showing young Malaysian children training with weapons, and two Malaysian men were identified in separate footage of a beheading in Syria.
Counter-terrorism police identified them as Mohd Faris Anuar, 20, and Muhamad Wanndy Muhamad Jedi, 25.
Dr Peter Chalk said: 'Malaysia is generally regarded as the main focal point for ISIS support and influence.
Between 39 to 105 Malaysians have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS. Although this number does not seem great, 'at the high end this figure would place Malaysia – a state of 30 million people – as among the top sources of foreign recruits in the wider Asian region,' Dr Chalk said.
“South-east Asia is a key recruitment centre for ISIS... The threat is no longer over there, it is over here... This is why Singapore takes terrorism, and in particular ISIS, very seriously”
The majority of those who left for the Middle East are still thought to be there, but a small number of militants are known to have returned to Malaysia.
Dr Clarke told MailOnline: 'In the 21st Century, small numbers of individuals or small cells of radicalized militants can cause destruction far greater than their numbers suggest,'
These returnees are thought to be playing 'an increasingly active role in encouraging heightened militancy in the country' and as many as 30 have been detained for their links to ISIS in April and May alone.
In April, Malaysian police foiled a deadly bomb attack in its capital Kuala Lumpur by arresting 12 people linked to the extremist group.
Among the explosive materials they seized were 20kg of ammonium nitrate, 20kg of potassium nitrate and two litres of kerosene, two remote controls, batteries and two remote controls.
Singapore's prime minister admitted in May that 'south-east Asia is a key recruitment centre for ISIS'.
Lee Hsien Loong said: 'The threat is no longer over there, it is over here... This is why Singapore takes terrorism, and in particular ISIS, very seriously.'
ISIS already has a foot-hold in these countries but experts are now warning that ISIS could turn to the Rohingya Muslim community fleeing Burma to bolster its numbers.
'Al Qaeda, Islamic State and other threat groups are reaching out to the Rohingiyas, offering them opportunities to train and conduct terrorist attacks,' international terrorism expert Dr Rohan Gunaratna told MailOnline.
He has urged the international community to address the issue. More than 100,000 Rohingya Muslims have tried to leave the country after years of battling with country's Buddhists
More than 3,500 starving migrants arrived in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia in May alone, and the UN estimated that 2,500 more were still trapped at sea the monsoon season approached.
'When people are marginalized and people are as demoralized as the Rohingya... then they fall prey to the offer of community that [ISIS] is reaching out with,' the CEO of the Partners Relief and Development charity told Mission Network News.
Hundreds of them have drowned trying to cross the treacherous waters of the Straits of Malacca to reach other south-east Asian countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand - where they are mostly refused entry and towed back out into the water.
They are an easy target for ISIS, according to Steve Gumaer, who added: 'They're [ISIS] reaching out to families, not just fighters, and they're offering them a new narrative on what's happening in the world.
'You have experienced being disenfranchised, like we have; we will give you a place in our society.'
'One of the concerns that leading thinkers have right now is those marginalized Muslims in South East Asia, in Burma. [They're] only a step away from Indonesia and Malaysia where there's already a clear recruitment strategy there.'