This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 27, 2016.

KUALA LUMPUR: Police had so far foiled seven terrorists attack plots planned by the local members of the Islamic State (IS) in the country, the Special Branch counterterrorism division said yesterday.

“It’s not six, but seven. Of the total only one was in the third stage of planning, while the rest were still in the initial stage,” said the division’s principal assistant director senior assistant commissioner Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay.

In a seminar in Kuantan yesterday, Ayob Khan told more than 1,000 Pahang government officials that in the latest case, seven people who were nabbed were planning to launch attacks at hotspots in several states in the country. They were detained between Jan 22 and 24, including the cell head, who worked as an assistant hotel manager in Johor.

Ayob Khan said those arrested were committed to their cause and had very strong ideology, but lacked knowledge.

“They wanted to carry out attacks because the Malaysian government is described as ‘taghut’ (not following proper Islamic teaching) and those who are against them are considered as pro-Shia and that they can be killed.” — The Malaysian Insider