ISIS-linked network may be preparing attacks in East Asia – report

MANILA: The terrorist network battling Philippine forces in Marawi may be prepping Muslim militants for similar attacks in Singapore and in East Asia, said a report released yesterday.

The network, run by Bahrumsyah, a young Indonesian fighter in Syria, and Malaysian former university lecturer Mahmud Ahmad, recruited fighters and carried out an audacious bid by ISIS to seize Marawi.

“The Marawi operations received direct funding from ISIS central and reveal a chain of command that runs from Syria through the Philippines to Indonesia and beyond,” the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) said in its report.

Hundreds of gunmen from two groups linked to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) stormed Marawi, a mainly Muslim city in southern Philippines with a population over 200,000, on May 23.

They seized large parts of the city, forced the evacuation of its entire population, and fought an army brigade that resulted in a stalemate now into its ninth week. The militants used tactics in urban warfare which they picked up from veteran fighters who have returned from the Middle East. Nearly 100 soldiers and police officers have died, and half of Marawi now lies in ruins.

Over 400 militants have been killed, but Marawi “has lifted the prestige of Philippine fighters in the eyes of ISIS central” and “inspired young extremists from around the region to want to join”, the Jakarta-based IPAC said in its report.