ISIS presence:

Sri Lankan intelligence agencies on high alert

by Dhaneshi Yatawara

Sri Lankan intelligence agencies are on high alert on the possibility of local groups having links with the extremist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), following the recent attack in Jakarta, Indonesia perpetrated by Daesh also known as ISIS.

The Government recently announced that nearly 36 Sri Lankans have joined the ISIS movement so far, following which the security agencies were on full alert.

In response to queries about the presence of ISIS terrorists or links to sympathiser groups in Sri Lanka, Military Spokesman Brigadier Jayanath Jayaweera said that the situation is no way a cause for panic or alarm. “Yet divulging vital and sensitive information could be counterproductive to the intelligence network established in the country and could jeorpadise identifying the elements,” Brigadier Jayaweera added.

In July, 2015, a 37-year-old Sri Lankan was reported killed in an air strike in Syria. A Sri Lankan was mentioned as a sympathiser in a another cases of ISIS recruits, when a teenage girl was indoctrinated by an alleged ISIS operative. Experts on terrorism emphasise based on their observations, at least two Sri Lankans have joined the ISIS.