KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians who went to Syria to join the Islamic State (IS) are believed to be hiding in no-man’s land in the country after US-backed coalition forces routed the militants from its de facto capital of Raqqa last month, according to Malaysian police.



“Malaysian IS members who are still in Syria have fled the cities where fighting took place and are now hiding in areas which are not controlled by anyone. There is a possibility some of them may have (gone) to refugee camps at the borders of Jordan and Turkey,” Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, counter-terrorism chief of Special Branch, told Channel NewsAsia.



Special Branch is the intelligence arm of the Royal Malaysian Police.

On Oct 17, the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, declared Raqqa liberated from IS after four months of air strikes and gruelling ground battles.

Among the survivors is the most senior Malaysian IS leader in Syria, Mohd Rafi Udin, who appeared in a video last year beheading a prisoner, a first for a militant from the country.



“We believe Rafi Udin is still alive and he is still with IS,” said Ayob.





Rafi Udin’s action raised concern among security officials over the level of radicalisation of Malaysians fighting in Syria and the potential brutality they could bring home.

“It was shocking to see Rafi carrying out beheadings. He may be a militant but he is not known to be brutal and cruel. For Rafi to slaughter someone this way shows how drastically he has changed in a short period of time,” said Ayob in an earlier interview.

Rafi was a former member of the Malaysia Mujahidin Group (KMM) and worked as a taxi driver in Kuala Lumpur before leaving for Syria around 2014.

Police have identified at least 53 Malaysians who are still in Syria: 24 men, 12 women and 17 children.

A total of 34 Malaysian men were killed in Syria and Iraq, out of which nine died as suicide bombers, according to Ayob.

As IS' territories were crumbling, the terror group issued a call to militants to make their way to the southern Philippines as the new land of jihad, where it hopes to establish a province.

On May 23, pro-IS groups attacked Marawi in southern Philippines and laid siege to the city for five months before it was also liberated on Oct 17 by the Philippine army.

Some analysts say militants will move from the Middle East to the southern Philippines.

However, Ayob said it would be difficult for Malaysians to travel from Syria to the Philippines as many of them no longer have valid travel documents.

“Many of the (Malaysian) passports were kept by their leaders. Some of them burnt their passports and there are those whose passports have expired. It is hard for them (Malaysians) to travel without a passport,” said Ayob.

However, it is Malaysians in the country who have taken up IS' call to go to the southern Philippines, he added.

“To date, we have arrested a Malaysian, 2 Indonesians (and) 2 Bangladeshis who tried to make their way to the southern Philippines to join the pro-IS faction of the Abu Sayyaf Group,” said Ayob.

The Abu Sayyaf Group is a notorious kidnap-for-ransom group, of which one faction has since declared allegiance to IS.

“We are continuing with our efforts in intelligence-gathering to prevent Malaysians from getting involved in activities in the southern Philippines,” Ayob added.