At Least Two Singaporeans Have Joined ISIS

SINGAPORE: Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said Tuesday at least two Singaporean citizens have left for Syria to fight for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) although their exact whereabouts are unknown.

Teo told parliament that authorities will continue to investigate anyone who expresses support for terrorism or interest to pursue violence, Xinhua news agency reported.

He said the escalation of violence in Syria and Iraq over the last three months and expansion of the Islamic State's threat beyond the two countries' borders had increased the risk of threat to countries of the US-led coalition and Singapore.

"The ISIS continues to recruit foreign fighters including Southeast Asians, and its brutality is not confined to beheadings of Westerners but also the killing of other Muslims and minority communities in Syria and Iraq.

"We have no information currently of any specific threat to us resulting directly from the beheadings committed by IS and the anti-IS strikes," Teo said.

Teo said even if Singapore is not a target, foreign interest in the country may be targeted and cited the example of how al-Qaida and the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) had planned to bomb the US and other embassies here in 2002.

There are also reports that some Malaysians and Indonesians who have fought for ISIS have formed a militant group called Katibah Nusantara Lid Daulah Islamiyyah or Malay Archipelago Unit for the ISIS.

"If this group expands in Southeast Asia, it will pose a regional threat like the JI network, which had aimed to set up a southeast Asian Islamic archipelago encompassing Singapore," Teo said. - Bernama