MOSCOW, September 26 (RIA Novosti) - Malaysian police have arrested three suspects, who wanted to leave the country to travel to Syria and fight for the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization, Sky News Arabia reported on Friday.
"Three men have been arrested in Kuala Lumpur in the international airport as they were waiting for a flight to Turkey. From Turkey they were planning to enter the territory of the Islamic State," chief of the police counter-terrorism unit said.
As the Islamic State began its wide PR campaign hundreds of Islamists from all over the world have traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight for the terrorist organization.
As an example, the 23 year-old Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, also known as "Jihadi John", is the British rapper suspected to be responsible for the beheading of the American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, as well as a British aid worker, David Haines. He left the United States last year and is believed to have joined the IS in Syria.
On Thursday, Navy Admiral Samuel Locklear, the head of Pacific Command of the American forces announced that some 1,000 volunteers from the Asia-Pacific region might have joined the radicals though did not specify the exact countries. On Wednesday, local Norwegian media reported that about 10 children left the country for Syria to assist the IS in their fight.
Earlier this month, Germany stated that hundreds of its nationals, including minors, had moved to Syria to fight alongside the IS militants.
The IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has been fighting against Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, the group extended its attacks to northern and western Iraq, declaring a caliphate on the territories over which it had control.
