US commander warns of Islamic State attacks in Asia-Pacific as jihadists go home

A top US military commander warned Wednesday that the Asia-Pacific region is at risk of attacks by Islamic State group fighters returning to their home countries.

As the group loses territory in the Middle East, radicalised fighters from Bangladesh, Indonesia and elsewhere are likely to target their native countries, Commander of the US Pacific Command Admiral Harry Harris said.

“It’s not a theory. It’s real. In the past year alone, ISIL has made its murderous intentions clear in places like Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and the United States,” he said at an geo-political conference in New Delhi.

The warning follows a similar warning from a Jakarta-based think tank in October, which said the main danger lies in the strife-torn southern Philippines where a handful of Islamic extremist groups have sworn allegiance to IS.

Southeast Asia -- parts of which have long struggled with Islamic militancy -- suffered its first IS attack in January last year when extremists launched a deadly suicide bombing and gun assault in Jakarta, leaving four attackers and four civilians dead.

IS-linked militants also killed 20 hostages in a restaurant in Bangladesh last year in one of the deadliest such incidents in the country.