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| Image: Flickr User - AK Rockefeller |
By Prashanth Parameswaran
Police step up patrols following threat [warnings] issued by Western embassies.
Malaysian police have nabbed three suspected Islamic State (IS) sympathizers in connection with recent security threats in the country’s capital.
According to Deputy Inspector-General of Police Noor Rashid Ibrahim, the men – a Malaysian, a Syrian and an Indonesian – were arrested in a raid carried out by the Special Branch’s Counterterrorism Division near Alor Street, a popular tourist destination in the city center, on Thursday at 6pm. He added that the suspects, one of whom had made frequent trips to Yemen, were believed to have been planning to launch terrorist attacks targeting public areas of interest to Malaysia as well as Western nations, and that investigations were ongoing to verify this.
“Investigation is ongoing to determine if the three of them are involved in any plans to launch attacks in Malaysia,” he said in a statement according to The Associated Press.
The arrests came shortly after Western embassies issued specific warnings to their citizens about a possible terrorist attack in the area. The U.S. embassy issued an advisory Thursday urging American citizens to avoid Alor Street and surrounding areas because of “credible threat information regarding a potential terrorist attack.” The Australian embassy also followed suit.
Read the full story at The Diplomat