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Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi, 26, was believed to have been responsible for a grenade blast at a bar in a suburb outside Kuala Lumpur last June that injured eight people. It was the first attack in the country by the Islamic State militant group. Photo: Handout
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Malaysia's top Islamic State recruiter Muhammad Wanndy confirmed killed after wife reported drone attack in Syria

Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi first drew public attention 2015 when he appeared in a video showing the beheading of a Syrian man

Islamic militancy
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On April 29, the wife of Malaysia’s top Islamic State operative posted a message on Facebook that her husband had died in a drone strike in Syria.

“My Mujahid, finally it is your time to go. I will remain here and carry on with the work you started. I accept this as fate,” Nor Mah­mudah wrote.

Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi, who went to Syria with his wife in 2014, was the mastermind behind the grenade attack on a pub in the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur on June 28 last year that injured eight people and was touted as the first successful IS attack in the country.

Malaysian police at first cast doubt on the report of Muhammad Wanndy’s death, saying that it could be fake.

But late Monday, Malaysia’s police chief Khalid Abu Bakar confirmed on Twitter that Muhammad Wanndy had died on that date in the Islamic State-held Syrian city.

Khalid cited intelligence information, but didn’t give further details.

Muhammad Wanndy, 26, was on a US list of global militants. He was the region’s top recruiter and was placed on the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control wanted list on March 30 for providing financial and operational support for the terror group.

The move by the US Treasury is aimed at cutting off any attempt to solicit funds from the United States and to block any assets in its jurisdiction.

Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi, 26, was believed to have been responsible for a grenade blast at a bar in a suburb outside Kuala Lumpur last June that injured eight people. File photo: AP

Police had initially suggested the Kuala Lumpur grenade attack was gang-related, but hours afterward, Abu Hamzah Al-Fateh, believed to be the pseudonym of Muhammad Wanndy, posted an IS claim of responsibility on his Facebook page.

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

The two men involved in the attack had each been sentenced to 25 years in jail by the Kuala Lumpur High Court in March for the attack after they pleaded guilty.

Born and raised in the west Malaysian state of Malacca, Muhammad Wanndy first drew public attention in 2015 when he appeared in a video showing the beheading of a Syrian man.

Using the name Abu Hamzah Al Fateh, he quickly made a name for himself as an Islamic State online recruiter and fundraiser.

Statistics from the police counter-terrorism unit show that at least a third of the more than 250 people arrested for Islamic State-linked activities in Malaysia between 2013 and 2016 were recruited by or linked to Muhammad Wanndy.

He was known to recruit people mostly via social media and messaging apps.

Reuters, Kyodo, The Star

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Malaysia’s top extremist fighter killed in a drone strike in Syria, police say
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