Malaysia foils 'IS plot against police'

[yuiyoshida]

A Malaysian soldier and a police officer talk to a tourist at the KL Sentral train station in Kuala Lumpur on July 7. Government officials placed the country on high alert after Islamic State staged its first attack in the country on June 28. (AP Photo)

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian authorities said on Saturday that they had foiled a bomb plot against top police officers and arrested 14 suspected Islamic State (IS) operatives in a week-long operation.

The suspects included a senior IS member who is believed responsible for recruiting a Malaysian IS militant, Abu Ghani Yaacob, who was killed in Syria on April 17, said Khalid Abu Bakar, inspector-general of police.

"Based on a search, police managed to seize one completed IED weighing one kilogramme, for use in a planned attack on the top PDRM leadership," Khalid said in a statement, using the Malay acronym for the Royal Malaysian Police, and referring to an improvised explosive device, or bomb.

Malaysia's security agencies have stepped up preventive measures against IS spreading in the Muslim majority, but multi-ethnic country.

A few months ago, officials estimated nearly 50 Malaysians, most of them from the Malay majority, had joined IS in Syria and Iraq.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/security/1042665/malaysia-arrests-14-is-suspects