Indonesia has been one of main suppliers of recruits for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militant group. According to the National Counter-terrorism Agency (BNPT), an estimated 500 Indonesians have joined ISIS in Syria.

“But among of those, there are only 200 people recorded by the police office,” said Secretary of National Counterterrorism Agency Abdul Rahman Kadir.

Kadir said it is hard to detect Indonesians going to Syria as they do not travel there directly. Most of them say they would go to countries near Syria for a holiday, or to Saudi Arabia to perform the umrah pilgrimage. “We are certainly sure that the ISIS fighters are Indonesian after they died. They usually mention it on the press release,” Kadir said.

Shocking news hit the Indonesian police force after it was revealed that one of its personnel in Jambi Sumatra joined ISIS undetected. Brigadier Syahputra was killed in an airstrike by the US military at Tal Tamer area in June, according to ISIS propaganda media written in Malay. Syahputra changed his name to Abu Azzayn al Indunisiy after joining ISIS.

According to police records, Syahputra asked for permission to make a passport on Feb 17. On Mar 19, he was absent from work. His wife, Helby Sagita, was told by her husband that he went to Turkey, but he could not be contacted ever since.

Syahputra’s picture before and after joining ISIS went viral in many Indonesian Internet forums, including the biggest Internet discussion forum in the country, Kaskus.

In October, Indonesia’s chief police office, Badrodin Haiti confirmed that the son of Bali bomber suspect Imam Samudra, Umar Jundul Haq, died in Syria. “It is correct that he is Imam Samudra’s son, according to information that gathered from Syria,” Haiti said on Monday.

Umar died age 19, two years after joining ISIS, according to terrorism and intelligence expert from University of Indonesia Wawan Purwanto.

ISIS has been aggressively recruiting fighters from Indonesia using advertisements promising luxurious gimmicks such as wives and high salaries. Many of them previously joined terrorist groups in Indonesia.

channelnewsasia.com

NATO’s hoped-for goal of reducing the size of its ‘Resolute Support’ mission in Afghanistan looks increasingly tenuous as the country’s security deteriorates, admit allied diplomats and military officials.

“The view across our militaries is unanimous: ‘Resolute Support’ has to be extended. Its strength should not be diminished. The situation there is just too uncertain,” a German military officer told IHS Jane’s during the first day of the 26-27 October Georgia Defence Security Conference in Tbilisi.

The European Union’s (EU’s) assessment is no less sobering: “The past months have seen a serious security situation [involving] renewed terrorist attacks with record numbers of civilian casualties,” EU foreign ministers said after their 26 October meeting in Brussels.

ibtimes.co.uk

Islamist militants firing from Afghanistan into Pakistan killed seven Pakistani paramilitary soldiers on Tuesday, officials said, in an attack likely to put more strain on tense relations between the neighbours.

Afghanistan and Pakistan routinely trade accusations of doing too little to prevent Taliban fighters and other militants operating in the other’s territory.

The Pakistani army said seven members of the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary (FC) were killed near a border town in the mountainous South Waziristan region.

“Heavy fire from across Pak Afghan border early morning today on a FC check post northeast of Angoor Adda in South Waziristan,” the military said in a statement.

“Resultantly seven FC soldiers embraced shahadat (martyrdom).”

A military official who declined to be identified said Afghan-based militants were responsible.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has tried to improve ties with his nuclear-armed neighbour to the east since coming to power last year. Ghani says the two sides must work together to defeat Islamist insurgents who threaten both countries.

Ghani’s overtures appeared to yield fruit in July when Pakistan hosted the first official peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government.

But the talks were suspended after news of the death of the Taliban’s founder Mullah Mohammed Omar leaked. A wave of Taliban attacks in Kabul then strained relations with Pakistan.

Afghan officials have long accused Pakistan of tolerating Afghan Taliban seeking shelter on Pakistani territory and even of supporting them, an accusation Pakistan denies.

Instead, Pakistan says the leadership of the Pakistani Taliban – a group loosely allied with the Afghan Taliban but fighting to topple Pakistan’s government – is based in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan recently accused Pakistan of not doing enough to arrest Afghan Taliban leaders meeting to decide on a successor to Omar. Afghan officials say the Taliban are meeting semi-openly in Pakistan.

Pakistan says such meetings are held in Afghanistan.

Taliban have threatened to continue fighting until the formation of an ‘Islamic System’ in Afghanistan.

Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, the Supreme Leader of Taliban has released an audio message on Tuesday saying that their core aim is to establish an ‘Islamic System’ in Afghanistan and until then the fighting will continue.

Taliban in their previous messages had emphasized on the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan but in today’s message Mullah Mansour calls the government to be ‘Un-Islamic’.

This comes as the constitution of Afghanistan is formed in accordance with the Islamic rules and the formal religion mentioned in there is also Islam.

Contrary, numbers of religious scholars have called the activities of Taliban to be un-Islamic and name them the servant of the intelligence agency of Pakistan, Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI).

Abdul Rab Rasoul Sayaf, a religious scholar and former Jihadi leader says whoever carrying out suicide attacks and believes this is for Allah he is mistaking, his act is against Allah.

In another part of Mullah Mansour’s speech published on Taliban’s website, he calls on fighters not to harm public utilities.

He orders fighters to also prevent others from harming power dams, Madrasas, schools, bridges, clinics and any other similar installation that benefits public.

Mullah Mansour tells fighters in the message to assist civilians in health, education and other sectors in accordance with the Islamic law.

khaama.com

The latest data from the National Police shows that at least 350 Indonesians so far have joined the Islamic State movement in Syria, the country’s top cop said on Monday.

Gen. Badrodin Haiti also confirmed that Umar Jundul Haq, the son of 2002 Bali bomber Imam Samudra, has been killed in Syria while fighting with IS.

“There’s about 350 [Indonesian fighters], not including those using illegal channels,” Badrodin said. “But if you say there are 1,000 of them, that’s not the case.”

Bangladeshi police have arrested four people in connection with the killing of an Italian aid worker who was shot dead last month in the first attack in the country claimed by Islamic State.

Cesare Tavella (50), was shot in Dhaka’s diplomatic quarter by three gunmen on a motorcycle on Sept. 28. Attacks on foreigners are rare in Bangladesh, despite a rising tide of Islamist violence over the past year that has seen four online critics of religious militancy hacked to death, among them a U.S. citizen of Bangladesh origin.

Days after Tavella was shot, a Japanese man was killed. Islamic State claimed responsibility for both attacks and police detained two suspects in connection with the second killing.

The four arrested for the attack on Tavella were caught in different parts of the capital overnight and police also recovered the motorcycle used in the killing, police said.