Story highlights
Malaysian police say a bombing at a nightclub last month is the work of the Islamic State
Fifteen people arrested in the wake of the attack, including the bombers
Malaysian police say the Islamic State has carried out its first successful attack in the country.
Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar told CNN that a grenade attack on June 28 at a nightspot near Kuala Lumpur, the country’s capital, was carried out on the orders of a Malaysian Islamic State fighter in Syria, Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi.
While there were no fatalities in the attack, eight people were injured. Most of the people at the nightclub, called Movida, were there to watch the Spain-Italy Euro 2016 match.
Khalid said 15 people have been arrested in wake of the attack, including the two men who lobbed the bomb at Movida. Those arrested also included two policemen.
“One of the policemen was picked up for harboring ISIS elements, while the other was arrested for involvement in robberies to collect funds for ISIS,” he told CNN.
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Khalid added that Muhammad Wanndy had ordered attacks on prominent Malaysians, including Prime Minister Najib Razak, police counter terrorism division senior assistant director Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, and Khalid himself.
Khalid, who declined to release more details, said investigations are ongoing and that police expect to make more arrests.
The police had initially ruled out terrorism as the reason for the attack on Movida, believing instead that the motive was a business rivalry or a dispute among patrons. However, Muhammad Wanndy later claimed on Facebook that the attack had been carried out by ISIS followers.
The Malaysian police have foiled nine ISIS plots to attack Malaysia since the declaration of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in 2014.
