Violent attacks in the region related to killing of Wanndy - DPM

The latest terrorist attacks in several districts in Thailand, Jakarta in Indonesia and clashes in Mindanao, the Philippines are related to the killing of the Southeast Asian Daish coordinator Mohammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi in Syria, last March, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

He said this was the finding of the study carried out by the intelligence agency which also found the existence of the 'Katibah Nusantara' network by the Daish for those who became terrorists in this region.

"What happened in Southern Thailand, Jakarta and Mindanao was that the intelligence agency found there was a link to the killing of Wanndy, who was previously a Katibah Nusantara coordinator.

"We in Malaysia should not feel comfortable with this situation,"he told journalists after launching the 'Open Data Big Splash' programme at the University of Malaya today.

Thus, he said, the police via the anti-terrorism unit had always boosted its level of preparedness to prevent terrorism acts at its highest level, especially as the country was making preparation to host the SEA Games and ASEAN Para Games in August and September.

Ahmad Zahid, who is also the Home Minister, urged the people to place their full confidence in the police and other enforcement agencies on this issue.

He said such incidents as well as the bomb attack in Manchester could happen in the country if the people became arrogant in this matter.

He also call on the people not to take the matter lightly.

"Bombings can occur at any time, anywhere in the world and Malaysia is not excluded, and (possibly) will experience such an incident if the people are not careful and only leave it to the enforcement agencies to be prepared,"he said.

He added that cooperation between the government''s enforcement agencies with the foreign agencies such as ASEANAPOL was also being boosted to track down and monitor the movements of the terrorists.

Thailand had experienced several series of bombings with the latest incident at the Bangkok Hospital last Monday which injured 20 people while East Jakarta was yesterday shaken by a bomb attack which killed at least two people.

Last Tuesday, the Philippine government enforced martial law following bloody clashes between government forces and Daish-linked militants in Marawi Town.

-- BERNAMA