The authorities did not rule out any possibilities of Malaysian students in the Middle East participating in the militant group, Islamic State (IS) in Syria during their semester breaks.

Bukit Aman Special Branch Counter Terrorism Division, Assistant Director, Datuk Ayub Khan Mydin Pitchay said, it is difficult to monitor the activities of students outside the country especially those who are not registered with the Malaysian Embassy there.

"There are only some of our students abroad who are registered with our embassy. This group is easy to be monitored by us.

“Others who are not registered took the trouble to go on their own. This group is beyond our control. We do not have any ability to control them.

"Maybe they utilise the semester breaks to participate in the militant group operations in Syria," Ayub Khan said when met after the safety and threat of the IS group talk in UiTM Machang campus Monday.

He added that similar modus operandi is employed by Malaysian students in Pakistan, taking advantage of the university’s semester breaks to participate in the activities of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Touching on the threats of IS in Malaysia, Ayub Khan said that for now, his team is actively monitoring the group to ensure that the threat is combated and does not become widespread among the public.

However, he did not rule out the increasing severity of threats by the global militant IS group and more stringent controls are needed to prevent the people of this country from being influenced by these extremist groups’ doctrines.

Currently, 11 Malaysians known to be advocating the militant group’s cause have been confirmed killed in Syria and Iraq. It was reported that five were killed in war while another six died as suicide bombers.