--- title: Malaysia Says It Foiled ISIS Terror Attacks on National Day description: Malaysian police arrested three suspects believed to belong to the Islamic State (ISIS) militant group canonical: https://time.com/4473806/malaysia-independence-day-terror-attacks-isis/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-31T09:57:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:18:28.026Z article:section: World og:title: Malaysia Says It Foiled ISIS Terror Attacks on National Day og:description: Police arrested three suspects believed to belong to the militant group og:url: https://time.com/4473806/malaysia-independence-day-terror-attacks-isis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt130bfc61667f2fb6/6988a44f5f570fcb75b225d8/gettyimages-598015442.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: MALAYSIA-IDAY og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Malaysia Says It Foiled ISIS Terror Attacks on National Day twitter:description: Police arrested three suspects believed to belong to the militant group twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt130bfc61667f2fb6/6988a44f5f570fcb75b225d8/gettyimages-598015442.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Malaysian Police Say They Foiled an Independence Day Terror Attack by ISIS by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Aug 31, 2016 9:57 AM CUT  Malaysian schoolchildren wave national flags during the 59th National Day celebrations at Independence Square in Kuala Lumpur on August 31, 2016. Malaysian schoolchildren wave national flags during the 59th National Day celebrations at Independence Square in Kuala Lumpur on August 31, 2016.Mohd Rasfan—AFP/Getty Images by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Aug 31, 2016 9:57 AM CUT Malaysia [narrowly thwarted](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/d0e45ef6bffc49f6bbeade910446e3b4/malaysia-detains-3-suspected-militants-foils-attacks "undefined") terrorist attacks shortly before the country marked its 59th Independence Day, police said on Wednesday, thanks to the detention of three individuals believed to be affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS) extremist group. The alleged militants had planned to attack multiple sites in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, including a popular Hindu temple and police stations containing arms and ammunition, national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. He added that the three men — a butcher, a truck driver and a drink seller — intended to flee the country after the attacks to join ISIS in Syria. \[[_AP_](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/d0e45ef6bffc49f6bbeade910446e3b4/malaysia-detains-3-suspected-militants-foils-attacks "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4473806/malaysia-independence-day-terror-attacks-isis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4473806/malaysia-independence-day-terror-attacks-isis/"},"headline":"Malaysian Police Say They Foiled an Independence Day Terror Attack by ISIS","datePublished":"2016-08-31T09:57:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:18:28.026Z","description":"Police arrested three suspects believed to belong to the militant group","url":"https://time.com/4473806/malaysia-independence-day-terror-attacks-isis/","keywords":["Malaysia","Syria","arrested","ISIS","Attack","Kuala Lumpur","Terror","independence day"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt130bfc61667f2fb6/6988a44f5f570fcb75b225d8/gettyimages-598015442.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt130bfc61667f2fb6/6988a44f5f570fcb75b225d8/gettyimages-598015442.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"MALAYSIA-IDAY","caption":"MALAYSIA-IDAY","creditText":"Mohd Rasfan—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/malaysia/","name":"Malaysia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4473806/malaysia-independence-day-terror-attacks-isis/","name":"Malaysian Police Say They Foiled an Independence Day Terror Attack by ISIS"}}]}] ```