KUALA LUMPUR: THE leader ofMalaysian Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria, hours after the bombing of the Movida entertainment outlet in Puchong, warned of bigger attacks to come, but experts believe members of the terror group here do not have the resources.
Speaking to the New Straits Times via a social media website, Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi had said the attack on Movida was a warning against the government to stop its crackdown against IS.
He said a larger-scale attack might be imminent if authorities continued to use the Security Offences
(Special Measures) Act (Sosma) to “punish” IS members in Malaysia.
Wanndy boasted to the NST that the June 28 incident, which saw eight people injured, was only a small-scale attack compared with what it planned to carry out in the future.
“If the Malaysian government continues with their arrogant actions and punish Sosma detainees as they wish, it is not impossible that we will opt to use SVBIED (suicide vehicle borne improvised explosive device).”
Counterterrorism experts, however, told the NST that it was unlikely IS members here had the resources to carry out an SVBIED attack.
A source said any IS cell here would likely be unable to get their hands on sufficient explosives for such an attack. The source said IS members here also lacked the expertise and technical know-how to rig a vehicle with an IED.
This was one of the reasons the authorities here were keeping a close watch on the movement of IS members known to be in Syria and Iraq, as well as those who had travelled abroad to train with other militant groups.
The source said the authorities did not want these Malaysian militants returning to the country to train IS members here.
Wanndy said the Movida incident served as a warning to Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar for his challenge to IS members to launch attacks in Malaysia.
“(The attack) was also a means of taking up the call by (IS official spokesman and leader in Syria) Syeikh Muhammad Al Adnani As Syami Hafitzullah.
“Movida was a place of sin that had been frequented by Muslim youngs ters... that is why we launched a small-scale attack to warn Muslims so that they stop committing sins and return to the right path of Allah.”
Syeikh Muhammad Al Adnani, whose real name is Taha Subhi Falaha, had in May issued an audio message that, among others, called for IS members to make Ramadan “a month of pain for infidels”.
Wanndy, who is known by the nom de guerre Abu Hamzah in Syria, claimed responsibility as the person who ordered the Movida blast.
He said the attackers had, prior to carrying out the attack, sent him a picture of the grenade taken before the attack and alerted him of their success soon after the incident.
“If you do not believe me, see our statement (on Facebook)... what time it was posted? And I have since the beginning (after the blast) said that the attackers used a grenade, while others initially said it was a Molotov cocktail attack.”
To “prove” to the NST that his claim was true, Wanndy sent a picture of the grenade allegedly used in the attack.
The picture showed a hand grenade lying on a white cloth glove, with an orange Cricket lighter, easily available in Malaysia, beside it.
Checks with sources revealed that a M67 grenade was used in the Movida attack. It was learnt that this finding was based on a safety lever and pin found at the scene.
A source said the Special Branch Counter-Terrorism Division (SBCTD), during intelligence gathering to find the perpetrators, found that the grenade was supplied to the attackers by another IS member.
However, it could not be determined whether the person responsible for providing the grenade was among the 15 suspects that SB-CTD detained in their crackdown between June 28 and Friday.