Malaysia minister says terror suspect who killed 2 police officers acted on his own

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — The man who attacked a Malaysian police station and killed two officers was a prisoner and is believed to have acted on his own despite his alleged links to the extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah, the country’s interior minister said on Saturday.

The man broke into the police station in the southern state of Johor, near Singapore, in the early hours of Friday with a machete. He hacked to death one police officer and then used the officer’s gun to kill another. He wounded a third officer before being shot dead. Police initially said the man may have tried to take firearms out of the station.

Interior Minister Saifuddin Nasution called it a “lone wolf attack” based on an initial investigation and said there was no threat to the general public.

“We have established that the attacker acted on his own… like a lone wolf driven by some motivation and his own understanding,” Saifuddin said. “His action is not linked to any broader mission.”

Police have said the man’s father was a known member of Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian network linked to Al Qaeda, and that they found materials linked to the group in his home. Seven people, including the man’s parents and three brothers, were detained and police said they were searching for about 20 Jemaah Islamiyah members in the state.

The incident raised concerns about a possible wider threat, prompting Singapore to issue a warning to its citizens to be vigilant when traveling to Johor.

Police initially said the attacker was 34 years old, but Saifudin later said he was 21 years old and had no criminal record. He said the man did not interact much with his neighbors. Saifudin urged the public not to link the attack with religion, saying the motive for the attack has not yet been established.

Jemaah Islamiyah was designated a terrorist group by the United States and banned in neighboring Indonesia. He is widely blamed for attacks in the Philippines and Indonesia, including the 2002 bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, which killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists. The group has been considerably weakened by security measures in the region.