Australia: IS may declare caliphate in Mindanao

MANILA, Philippines — Australia warned over the weekend that the so-called Islamic State (IS) might declare an Islamic caliphate in Mindanao as the group is already being pushed out of the Middle East.

Speaking to Sky News Australia, Julie Bishop, the country’s foreign minister, said that Canberra was concerned about IS fighters returning from the Middle East back to their home countries in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines.

Bishop, who has just returned from the United States for talks with countries about eradicating IS, said that around 600 Southeast Asian fighters were monitored to have been on their way home after fighting for IS in the Middle East.

“So there’s concern that ISIS may well seek to declare a caliphate, an Islamic caliphate in southern Philippines,” she said.

Bishop said that Australia had relayed its concern to President Rodrigo Duterte when she visited the Philippines recently.

“I was in the Philippines recently. I met with President Duterte. We spoke about the reemergence of some of these terrorist networks particularly the southern Philippines,” the foreign minister said.

Bishop said that a local terrorist group, the Abu Sayyaf, had established links with IS in the Middle East following the declaration of senior Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon as emir or leader in Mindanao.

“The Abu Sayyaf group, a particularly dangerous terrorist group. Their leader, Hapilon, has recently been declared an emir by ISIS in the Middle East, an emir, a leader in southern Philippines,” she said.

READ: What you need to know about the Abu Sayyaf

She said Australian security and intelligence agencies were working closely with their counterparts in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia to coordinate efforts to rid the region of the threat of terrorism.

Bishop said the attack in London last week demonstrated the limits of what government authorities and surveillance could do to stop “self-radicalized” individuals.

“It’s this idea that an individual can take a vehicle and use it as a weapon to kill innocent people, to kill civilians, that is so deeply troubling,” she said.

Bishop was referring to the recent terrorist attack in London involving an individual who plowed an SUV into crowds on Westminster bridge before stabbing to death a police officer at the entrance to the British parliament, leaving four people dead. The assailant was later shot dead by police officers.