Gov’t ready to thwart IS terror threat – Palace

Government forces are prepared to thwart any security threat after the Islamic State terror group rallied its forces to focus their fighting on Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines. “Ang banta ng terorismo saan man ito galing ay hinaharap at tinutugunan ng ating Sandatahang Lakas at Pambansang Pulisya (The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police continue to address any threat of terrorism wherever it may be coming from),” Presidential Communications Operations Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said over government radio. “Sa tulong ng mga mamamayan, mahahadlangan at maitataboy ang mga bantang iyan (With the help of the public, we can thwart these threats),” Coloma added. The Islamic State group, in its latest video, called on its extremists to fight for the group either in Syria or in the Philippines. The jihadists were asked to rally behind a certain Abu Abdullah, a leader of the Abu Sayyaf Group [...]