Three suspected Malaysian international terrorists including a senior militant who allegedly held training sessions at an Abu Sayyaf camp were arrested by the Malaysian Royal Navy on Friday.Malaysian officials said one of the terrorists is a senior member of a militant cell that had trained since April 22 at an Abu Sayyaf Group camp in Mindanao. A police statement said, "The suspect has illegally entered Malaysia on June 11 and was hiding in a house in Sandakan."
Malaysian police have so far arrested 12 people alleged to have ties to militant groups in Syria and the southern Philippines, among them an East African national, thought to be member of Al-Shabaab, who was nabbed in Selangor.
Last year, the military neutralized Noor Fikrie Kahar, a Malaysian militant and Ibnu Gholob Al Jitli, known also as Sanusi, an Indonesian terrorist, both members of the Jemaah Islamiyah. The two were blamed for the series of bombings in Mindanao.
Kahar was gunned down by Davao City policemen while trying to detonate an improvised explosive at a hotel on December 18, while Sanusi was killed in a shoot-out with soldiers in Marawi City on November 21.