By Prashanth Parameswaran
Group looking to declare at least one foothold in the region this year.
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is looking to declare at least one foothold in Asia in 2016, with the Philippines and Indonesia being the most likely targets, a terrorism expert said Tuesday.
Southeast Asia has already emerged as a key recruitment center for ISIS, with more than 500 Indonesians and dozens of Malaysians joining the group and forming their own unit, the Katibah Nusantara (Malay Archipelago Combat Unit). Earlier this week, reports surfaced that two Malaysian suicide bombers from that unit had blown themselves up in Syria and Iraq in the last two weeks, killing more than 30 others (See: “Malaysian Islamic State Suicide Bombers Kill More Than 30 in Middle East”).
But leaders and experts have also been warning that ISIS could gain a territorial foothold or at least establish a satellite presence in Southeast Asia. At last year’s Shangri-La Dialogue, Singapore’s premier Lee Hsien Loong warned that ISIS could “establish a base somewhere in the region,” a geographical area under its physical control like in Syria or Iraq (See: “Singapore Warns of Islamic State Base in Southeast Asia”). On Tuesday, in an opinion piece in The Straits Times, terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna argued that ISIS is likely to create at least one branch in Southeast Asia this year – most likely in either the Philippines or Indonesia – with alarming consequences for the region.
Read the full story at The Diplomat