Yangon Region police are tightening security in response to a report by Malaysian authorities that a suspected Islamic State supporter was caught before carrying out an attack against Myanmar.
The suspect, now in custody in Malaysia, is thought to have plotted the attack in support of Myanmar’s Rohingya minority, against whom human rights groups say the Myanmar military is committing crimes against humanity.
Lieutenant Police Colonel Min Zaw Oo from Yangon Region Security Police Administration No. 2 told Mizzima yesterday: “In Yangon city, six police units have been providing security. We have tightened security due to the news.”
Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, the head of the Malaysian police counter-terrorism division, told Reuters this week that an unidentified Indonesian factory worker who had been in Malaysia since 2014 was due to be charged on January 4 for possession of materials linked to terrorism.
“He was planning to perform jihad in Myanmar, fighting against the Myanmar government for this Rohingya group in Rakhine State,” Ayob Khan told Reuters.
In addition to tightening security, some experts have proposed other measures to prevent attacks against Myanmar in the name of the Rohingya.
Rohan Gunaratna, a security expert at Singapore’s Rajaratnam School of International Studies, told Reuters: “The Rohingya conflict is emerging as one of the rallying issues for IS. At a strategic level, Myanmar should resolve the Rohingya conflict to prevent IS influence and expansion.”
