Police step up security during Christmas, New Year holidays

KUALA LUMPUR: The police have stepped up security at several sensitive and public places for the Christmas and New Year holidays fol lowing several terrorist attacks abroad over the past few days.

“We are prepared,” InspectorGeneral of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said yesterday when asked by Bernama what steps the police had taken in the wake of the terrorist attacks in several cities abroad.

He had said in a statement on Tuesday that seven men, four of them foreigners, were arrested in Johor, Sabah, Melaka and Selangor between Nov 3 and Dec 16 for suspected involvement in terrorist activities.

The new Chief of Defence Forces, Gen Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor, also said Tuesday that the security forces were prepared and had their own way of handling terrorist attacks.

Last Sunday, two Malaysian tourists suffered slight injuries during a shootout between Jordanian security forces and a group of armed men in Karak Castle in Karak, Jordan.

Nine people died in the shootout, they being a Canadian woman tourist, three civilians and five policemen.

On the same day, Russia’s Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov was a s sas si nated i n An ka r a when h e wa s speaking at the opening of an art exhibition in the Turkish capital city.

On Monday, 12 people were reported killed when a truck ploughed through a crowd at a Chri stmas Marke t in Breitscheidplatz Square near Kurfuerstendamm Avenue in the west of Berlin. — Bernama