Singapore minister warns of growing Daesh threat in SE Asia
Singapore's law and home affairs minister has warned of the growing threat of terror attacks across Southeast Asia by the notorious Daesh terrorist group as it continues to suffer setbacks in Iraq and Syria.
K. Shanmugam made the remarks at a luncheon organized by the Foreign Correspondents Associations on Friday, saying that an estimated 1,000 people from Southeast Asia have joined the foreign-backed terror group in its war efforts across the Arab nations of Syria and Iraq.
He further emphasized that Singapore is beefing up security measures along its borders against terrorists, insisting that the danger of terror attacks remains quite significant.
The minister also underlined that Daesh has urged its supporters to carry out attacks in their home countries if they are unable to reach Iraq and Syria to join their terror campaign, noting that the number of attacks by individuals using everyday items such as knives and vehicles to kill went up significantly as a result.
The threat comes from three groups, he stated. The first group includes those who return from the war zones in Iraq and Syria "battle-hardened," and the second consists of those released from detention but who still harbor extremist tendencies. He described the third group as those radicalized online by Daesh propaganda.
Shanmugam then added while security agencies remain on high alert concerning the heightened terror threat, getting Singaporeans to be vigilant is an uphill task.
"It is safe to say that trying to get our population to understand and realize what we are up against is very much a work in progress that has got a long way to go," he said.
Parts of Southeast Asia have suffered from terror activities. Back in January, Daesh terrorists carried out a series of coordinated bombings and armed attacks in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, killing seven people and injuring many more.
Earlier in the year, Indonesian police authorities arrested six people over suspected links to the terrorist group.
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