ISIS terrorist group is recruiting more women suicide bombers

The Islamic State (IS) terror group is now recruiting more women to join its cause, including for suicide bombings, says Deputy Comm Datuk Ayob Khan.

The Bukit Aman Special Branch Counter Terrorism Division head said this was a worrying trend though police were vigilantly collecting actionable intelligence.

“We must not let our guard down as an attack can happen if we do.

“Based on intelligence collected, we believe the IS is targeting to recruit more women, especially as suicide bombers,” he told reporters after receiving a “Jasamu Dikenang” award in conjunction with the “Table Top Exercise and Communication in Disaster Medicine” event yesterday.

DCP Ayob cited examples, in which a family of militants carried out a suicide bomb attack on a police station in Surabaya, Indonesia, while two more families did the same at churches and a police station on Java island in May.

“While there have been no plans uncovered to use women as suicide bombers in Malaysia, we did arrest a 51-year-old woman who planned to attack voters in Puchong on polling day.

“Of the more than 400 detained so far in Malaysia, 43 are women,” he added.

DCP Ayob said that while some of the women had been charged in court, others were being detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) and Prevention of Crime Act (Poca).

“We must remain proactive to prevent attacks on home soil,” he said.

IS recruiters, DCP Ayob said, were still using social media to recruit members.

“They are not targeting a specific age group of women members. One of the youngest we have detained was a 14-year-old girl, who planned to go to Syria to join the terror group,” he added.

Meanwhile, on the death of Indonesian militant Bahrun Naim following a drone strike in Syria last month, DCP Ayob said it would leave a huge impact on IS recruitment in Malaysia and the region.

“He was giving orders to a terror cell in the country to attack several non-Muslim houses of worship as well as an attack on Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.

“We managed to thwart these after detaining 26 militants of the terror cell last year,” he said.

Bahrun was also an expert bomb maker and often shared “manuals” to make Improvised Explosive Device (IED) with his followers.

With the notorious militant’s death, three top militants who remain active are Akel Zainal, Rafi Udin and Zahar Abdullah.

“They remain in Syria and might take the chance to be the main recruiters,” said DCP Ayob.

Source: The Star