Malaysia arrests seven with suspected links to IS

Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Seven people with suspected links to the Islamic State (IS) have been detained, Malaysian police said on January 24 after Kuala Lumpur raised security alert following terrorist attacks in Jakarta, Indonesia on January 14.

The arrests were made by a special police unit in an operation in four states that started on January 22.

Also on January 24, a large number of police were present at Batu Caves, a major Hindu shrine outside Kuala Lumpur, where thousands of the country’s Indian minority people and tourists gathered for Thaipusam, a large annual religious festival.

The police have thwarted a potential suicide attack in Kuala Lumpur after they arrested a suspect at a train station following the Jakarta attack.

The authorities said they detected 55 Malaysians who had connections with the IS in Iraq and Syria, 17 of whom were killed, including six suicide bombers.

A series of bomb attacks and a gunfight occurred in downtown Jakarta, Indonesia on January 14, killing at least seven people and injuring 20 others. Among the dead were two civilians and five of the attackers, two of whom were suicide bombers.-VNA