Australia and Singapore have vowed to enhance intelligence sharing amid growing fears about the threat posed by jihadist citizens returning home after fighting in Syria and Iraq.
Ministers from both countries warned of the rising risk posed by the returning fighters who were radicalised and had developed sophisticated skills to carry out terrorist attacks.
"In this context of counter-terrorism and counter radicalisation ... we felt that we could exchange more information because these threats if they materialise will affect all citizens of all races and all religions," Singapore Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said at a press conference with Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.
Senior Australian government officials led by Ms Bishop are in Singapore for bilateral meetings.
Ms Bishop said Canberra was "also in discussions with our counterparts in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines as this is not an issue that is isolated".
"If these foreign fighters, as they are called, come back to Australia, come back to our region, then they pose a threat," she said.
"They are hardened, experienced extremists who have undertaken in a number of instances, terrorist activities overseas."
Australia's assistant Defence Minister Stuart Robert said the enhanced information sharing with Singapore would cover "the areas of terrorism, extremism, foreign fighters and the growth of homegrown extremism".
The US and Australia this month agreed to take concerns to the United Nations about jihadist foreign fighters in the Islamic State terrorist group.
The group has overrun parts of Syria and Iraq and has declared a Muslim caliphate in those areas.
In July, Singapore said it was aware of two Singaporeans fighting in Syria, along with their families.
Authorities in October 2012 detained a man who attempted to travel to Syria to join the jihadists, while two others have had their movements restricted after their attempts to contact the militant groups.
Neighbouring Malaysia has detained 19 Islamic State-inspired militants who had allegedly plotted to bomb pubs, discos and a Malaysian brewery of beer producer Carlsberg.
The deputy chief of the Malaysian police counter-terrorism division, Ayob Khan Mydin, told AFP on Tuesday that the detained Malaysian suspects and their supporters had visions of establishing a hardline Islamic caliphate spanning Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore.
In Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim-majority country, authorities estimate that 60 of its citizens have joined the fighting in Syria and Iraq.
Share
