Manila Standard
06 April 2017
- RSIS
- Media Mentions
- IS Eyeing Caliphate in South
IS Eyeing Caliphate in South
Battle-hardened Southeast Asian Islamic State fighters returning from the Middle East following the group’s setbacks are expected to rebase in the southern Philippines, a security conference heard Tuesday.
Instability and the easy flow of weapons have made Mindanao and nearby Philippine islands attractive to extremist groups, said speakers at the Milipol conference on homeland security in Singapore.
“Currently, IS is moving towards creating a territory in southern Philippines. The most recent communication issued by IS has announced that they have formally declared an East Asia division of IS in the southern Philippines,” counter-terrorism analyst Rohan Gunaratna told the conference.
“Our forecast for 2017 is that the threat in this region will grow because of the creation of an IS nucleus in the southern Philippines,” added Gunaratna.
ICPVTR / Online
