There are no immediate links between the 19 people arrested on
suspicion of planning terror attacks on Malaysia's administrative
capital, Putrajaya, and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS),
police said Wednesday.
"These individuals,
however, share a similar ideology with ISIS and other terrorist groups
such as Boko Haram and Jemaah Islamiah. They come from a Salafi-Jihadist
movement," the Asian country's counter terrorism deputy chief, Ayob
Khan Pitchay Mydin, told CNN.
Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah (JI) was behind the 2002 Bali bombings,
which left 202 people dead and other bombings in South East Asia, while
Boko Haram is the Islamist militant group waging a campaign of terror
in Nigeria.
However, Malaysian police
believe the individuals concerned were making their way to join ISIS in
its war in Syria after investigating their travel plans.
"We know they planned to join ISIS through their travel itineraries," said Ayob Khan.
The 19 suspects -- 17 men
and two women, who were arrested in operations between April and July
-- had planned flights to Istanbul, Turkey before going to Syria over
land via Turkey's Hatay province, the counter terrorism specialist said.
Seven people have already being charged in court for various terror-related activities.
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