Malaysian police confirmed that wanted Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli Abdhir, also known as Marwan, is alive and may be working with Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines; he had previously been reported killed in an airstrike in the Philippines in February 2012. Authorities are seeking to arrest Abdhir, an expert bombmaker with global jihadist links. Malaysian authorities are also looking for Dr. Mahmud Ahmad a.k.a. Abu Handzalah, a senior lecturer at Universiti Malaya, who is suspected of leading a jihadist cell with links to the Islamic State and Abu Sayyaf. He is accused of recruiting a Malaysian suicide bomber who killed 25 Iraqi soldiers in Anbar on May 26, as well as planning to kidnap and “silence” members who had left his terror cell. In June, authorities arrested an engineer in the Navy along with two other men for links to the Islamic State and Abu Sayyaf.
