KUALA LUMPUR: Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar today expressed his concern over the emergence of Islamic State (IS) supporters who operate as ‘lone wolves’ to create chaos in the country.
Commenting on a recent incident where a 16-year-old in IS-style garb had brandished a knife in a supermarket in Sungai Petani, Kedah, Khalid said the incident proved that the threat posed by IS was real.
"We have always been worried about these ‘lone wolves’ and their activities. They have no qualms about taking matters into their own hands, just like what happened in Sungai Petani,” he said.
Khalid said there were those who accused the police of making up stories about the IS threat.
“This is a reminder that the threat is very real. It's a global issue and Malaysia is not excluded," he said at a handover ceremony for the executive director and director for police services and Aseanapol secretariat, here today.
On Monday, a 16-year-old self-proclaimed IS supporter had walked into a Sungai Petani supermarket and brandished a knife at a woman.
The teen then instructed the woman to call the police to arrest him. Investigations later showed that the teen, who was influenced by IS propaganda, was trying to make a statement that there were IS supporters who were willing to do anything for the terror group.
On Monday, the New Straits Times had reported that two Malaysians suicide bombers aligned to IS blew themselves up, killing more than 30 others during their assigned missions in Syria and Iraq last week.
Terengganu-born Mohd Amirul Ahmad Rahim set off the bombs that he had on him and in the car he was in during clashes at the Islamic State’s stronghold of Raqqa on Dec 29. Amirul, 26, had left his family in Malaysia for Syria in October 2014 to be part of IS.
Amirul’s death came five days before another Malaysian blew himself up in Tikrit, Iraq. Mohamad Syazwan Mohd Salim, who carried out his mission on the night of Jan 3, was one of seven suicide bombers who had made their way to a police training centre at Speicher military base, some 160 km, north of Baghdad.