A growing number of insurgents from Southeast Asia are joining the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria raises concerns that said militants would return home and carry out similar attacks, according to a brief by a New York-based security firm.

Soufan Group, a firm that provides strategic analysis to governments, published its findings online and likened the trend to the 1980s Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) scenario. At the time, JI, a Southeast Asian militant faction, sent its Singaporean, Malaysian and Indonesian insurgents to Afghanistan for training.

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The brief found that some 200 Indonesians and 30 Malaysians were estimated to have joined the IS and other militant groups in Syria. The Southeast Asian insurgents had traveled to Syria through neighboring states such as Turkey and Egypt and likely posed as personnel of humanitarian organizations, the report cited.

Armed with newfound military training, the insurgents soon returned home countries and carried out terrorist attacks.
Given the current success of the IS - who has now seized a third of Iraq - Southeast Asian nations are worried that the militants would return home from Iraq and Syria to perpetrate jihad.

More recently, extremist blocs in the Philippines and Indonesia have confirmed their support for the IS, Bloomberg reported.

In the Philippines, the Abu Sayyaf militant group released a YouTube video of Philippine most-wanted extremist Isnilon Hapilon together with 15 other insurgents, who recited "We pledge baya' to Caliph Shaykh Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Ibrahim Awwad Al-Qurashi Al-Husseini for loyalty and obedience in adversity and comfort."

Here you will find a YouTube broadcast by Rappler of Abu Sayyaf’s pledge to IS:

Similarly, a group of Indonesian jihadists in the Middle East released a video titled "Join the Ranks," showing them pledging their allegiance to the IS and al-Baghdadi.

The video was released a day after the Abu Sayyaf's and is believed to have been coordinated between the factions, Soufan Group said.

In response, the Indonesian government has prohibited all types of pro-Islamic State propaganda, while Singapore said it has apprehended nationals who have tried to leave the country to join the fighting in Syria.

TagsIS, ISIS, Iraq, Abu Sayyaf, Indonesian militants, Malaysian militants, Southeast Asian militants, jihad, Jemaah Islamiah, Filipino militants, Caliph, Singaporean militants