Ex-ISIS Indonesians Mostly Comprise Women, Children: BNPT
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7 February 2020 21:27 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Head of the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), Comr. Gen. Suhardi Alius, said that the 600 Indonesians who are former ISIS combatants in Syria comprise women and children.
“The report we received suggests 600 people. But that needs to be verified. Most of them are women and children,” Suhardi told a press conference at the BNPT headquarters on Friday, February 7.
According to him, this information is initially reported by the Indonesian intelligence along with reports from international agencies, which suggests that 600 out of the thousands of foreign terrorist fighters (FTF) in Syria claim to be Indonesians.
The actual number of former ISIS Indonesian combatants are being verified by the Law and Human Rights Affairs Ministry, the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Home Affairs Ministry, and the National Police's counterterrorism special detachment Densus 88.
However, the BNPT asserted that it was unable to conduct a field verification on the three Syrian camps that were currently accommodating the former ISIS combatants in Al Hawl, Al Roj, and Ayn Issa.
FRISKI RIANA
