IS lure fanning fears in South-East Asia Scores believed to have gone to join the fighting

KUALA LUMPUR: The Islamic State’s appeal of martyrdom is fanning fears that it could serve as a potent new rallying cry for South-East Asian extremists who had been largely brought to heel following past deadly terror attacks.

Authorities in Indonesia – the world’s most populous Islamic country – and Muslim-majority Malaysia have watched with alarm as scores, possibly even hundreds, of their nationals are believed to have gone to Syria and Iraq to join the fight for a hardline Muslim caliphate.