Gov’t to monitor if Malaysian, Indonesian terrorists from Middle East may come to Mindanao

November 13, 2019

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Malaysian and Indonesia terrorists in the Middle East may come to Mindanao amid the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.

"Based on the estimate of the experts in  Europe or in Middle East while the ISIS territory is getting smaller. maybe they will return to their home country. That is normal because if they are Filipinos, they will return to Philippines or if they are Indonesian it is natural they will return to Indonesia," Lorenzana said in a radio interview.

He said based on list of terrorists that was shared to him by the intelligence officer of other country only one  is a Filipino.

"On that long list there is only one Filipino terrorist there, so the danger here is that those who will return to Malaysia and Indonesia may transfer there in Mindanao. That is what we are going to monitor," he said.

It can be recalled that Al-Baghdadi died in a raid conducted by the US forces in Syria late last month. Robina Asido/DMS