Malaysian man held before suicide attack bid in Kuala Lumpur
The 28-year-old insurance salesman from north-east Terengganu state was arrested at a monorail station. National police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said he confessed to planning to blow himself up in an attack after receiving orders from members of Islamic State (IS) in Syria.
The arrest came after officials had raised the alert level in the city, following bombings in neighbouring Indonesia.
A government official said he was seized only hours before his planned suicide attack at an entertainment spot — either a karaoke bar or a pub.
Khalid said the man had also had been hanging IS flags in several Malaysian states to oppose the government’s crackdown on the militant group within the country. “Weapons and IS documents” were seized.
Police raised the security alert to the highest level following the deadly attacks in Jakarta on Thursday.
Meanwhile three Malaysians were detained on arrival at Kuala Lumpur’s airport after Turkey repatriated the two men and one woman on November 16 for trying to sneak into Syria allegedly to join IS.
