Australia and Singapore agree to enhance intelligence sharing.
Australia and Singapore have agreed to enhance intelligence sharing amid concerns about the threat posed by Takfiri militants returning home from Syria and Iraq.
The agreement was reached during a meeting between Singaporean Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen and visiting Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Friday.
“In this context of counter-terrorism and counter radicalization… we felt that we could exchange more information because these threats if they materialize will affect all citizens of all races and all religions,” the Singaporean minister said at a joint press conference with the top Australian diplomat following the meeting.
The development comes less than a week after a footage, which surfaced on the Internet, showed a suspected British terrorist beheading American journalist James Foley in what is said to be retaliation for US airstrikes against the ISIL Takfiri group in Iraq.
Commenting on the video, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the fact that the man responsible for Foley’s execution seemed to be British showed the threat was global.
“It just goes to show that this is not just something that happens elsewhere, it could happen in countries like Australia if we relax our vigilance against terrorism and potential terrorism here on our shores,” he said.
Having taken control of parts of Syria, the ISIL terrorist group sent its militants into neighboring Iraq in early June and quickly seized large swathes of the territory there.
The foreign-backed Takfiri militant group, some members of which are foreigners, has terrorized various communities, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians, Izadi Kurds and others in their advances in Iraq.