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| Image: Flickr User - Karl-Ludwig Poggemann |
By Luke Hunt
Fears of the terror group spreading its tentacles further into Southeast Asia are proving to be tragically real.
Fears that the troubles in the Middle East – where Islamic militants are fighting for a caliphate and centralized Muslim leadership – will spread to Southeast Asia are proving tragically real with a series of bombs and gun battles in Jakarta.
Two civilians and five terrorists were killed. Another 26 were wounded and authorities were lucky the toll was not substantially higher after militants opened fire around a Starbucks coffee shop and Western-styled supermarkets in the first such strike in-country since 2009.
Experts say the self-declared Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is looking to build at least one base in Southeast Asia in 2016. The Philippines and Indonesia are most likely the preferred locations given their historical links to jihadists in the Middle East.
It is a similar objective that was once pushed by the now defunct Jemaah Islamiyah during the 2000s, through a bombing campaign backed by al-Qaeda and their infamous leader Osama bin Laden. Their claim straddled most of Southeast Asia and even included parts of northern Australia.
Southeast Asia is already a key recruitment center for ISIS, attracting more than 500 Indonesians and dozens of Malaysians. They have formed their own unit, the Katibah Nusantara (Malay Archipelago Combat Unit).
Maj. Gen. Tito Karnavian, Jakarta police chief, said the militants responsible for Thursday’s attacks belonged to a group led by Bahrum Naim, an Indonesian militant who currently resides in Syria.
“We have identified all attackers… We can say that the attackers were affiliated with the ISIS group,” he said.
Read the full story at The Diplomat