KUALA LUMPUR – Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi, who has been identified as the mastermind behind the first Islamic State (IS) attack on Malaysian soil, is a known IS recruiter who has previously directed several terrorist suspects to launch attacks all over Malaysia. 

Based in Syria, Muhammad Wanndy has also threatened to kill Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and top police officials.

Scores of militant suspects detained by the Malaysian police since January this year confessed that they were given orders by Muhammad Wanndy to conduct numerous terror attacks in strategic locations throughout Malaysia.

In May, authorities arrested 14 suspected IS militants during a four-day operation spanning five states, with eight of the suspects tied to Muhammad Wanndy.

He also gained notoriety following the release of a beheading video of a Syrian man which was posted on Facebook on Feb 22. Muhammad Wanndy was one of the two Malaysians in the video, the other being Mohd Faris Anuar, 20, from Kedah.

The video was uploaded from the account of one Abu Hamzah Al Fateh. 

Mr Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, the director of the Malaysian Police Counter-Terrorism unit, had confirmed in March last year that the account belonged to Muhammad Wanndy.

Both Muhammad Wanndy and Mohd Faris are said to be part of a new IS wing dubbed Majmu’ah Al Arkhabiliy, which encompasses Malaysian and Indonesian fighters who enlisted with the terrorist group. The wing is now believed to contain more than 100 fighters from both South-east Asian countries.

Malaysian police said Muhammad Wanndy travelled to Syria with his wife, Nor Mahmudah Ahmad, 27, on January 26 last year.

In an interview with news portal BenarNews last year — conducted via Facebook — Muhammad Wanndy said they had travelled by train from Butterworth in Penang to Bangkok, then flew to Moscow and to Istanbul — a popular disembarkation point for jihadists travelling overland to Syria. He said he had no regrets about joining IS. 

“I must say that I do harbour the hope of returning to Malaysia, but it is not my priority as my focus now is to stay here and fight, to achieve my dream of defending IS,” he said.

He said he and his wife left for Syria motivated by a chapter in the Quran that predicted redemption and victory for Muslims before the end times, under a messianic figure called “Mahdi”.

“These Malaysians come up with thousands of excuses to avoid dying as a martyr. When they return to Malaysia, they are screaming their lungs out for jihad, but, ironically, they fled from the battle,” he said.

Muhammad Wanndy had been described as a loner by his neighbours in a village in Malacca since he moved in with his family in 2009, according to a The Star report last year. They said he did not mix with anyone in the village and kept to himself.

Hours after the hand grenade attack on the nightclub in Selangor last month, Facebook user Abu Hamzah Al-Fateh claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that it was “the first successful Islamic State attack on Malaysian soil”.

“Two soldiers of the caliphate in Malaysia have launched the firstattack in the heart of the country, which is Kuala Lumpur, by targeting a nightclub filled with infidels using a grenade,” said the post.

However, The Star reported on Monday (July 4) that the post and the account are no longer available.

Citing a screenshot of his post, The Star said Abu Hamzah accused the nightclub of not respecting the month of Ramadan by carrying out immoral activities. He urged Muslims to stay away from such places so they would not become targets. WITH AGENCIES