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Johannesburg – The state security department on Sunday said while it was not aware of South Africans being recruited for ISIS, it continued to monitor issues of terrorism.“We aren’t aware of such recruitment that’s taking place,” said departmental spokesperson Brian Dube.

“As part of our normal work, the issue of terrorism is something that pre-occupies us. We are constantly in contact with partners across the world.”

This was after a Sunday Independent report that, according to Iraqi ambassador to South Africa Dr Hushaim al-Alawi, three South African recruits for the Islamic State movement (ISIS) were killed in Syria, but their deaths were covered up as car accidents.

Al-Alawi told the newspaper that recruitment and fund-raising for ISIS was being carried out by groups in South Africa positioning themselves as offering humanitarian assistance.

He said one of the men recruited left from Cape Town with a group “that was meant to provide humanitarian aid” while another was recruited in Gauteng, by a group purporting to be “supporting refugees and orphans”.

The newspaper reported that allegedly about 140 South Africans had left to fight for ISIS.

Meanwhile, two women and one man were arrested on suspicion of supporting Islamic State militants in Malaysia, a news report said yesterday.

The 34-year-old wife of a suspected jihadist charged in court earlier this month and a 28-year-old events manager were arrested at a train station in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, according to the New Straits Times.

The 33-year-old male suspect was arrested at a bus terminal, the report added.

Police Chief Inspector General Khalid Abu Bakar said the suspects were believed to own several Facebook accounts that recruit Malaysians to join the Islamic State or to solicit funds for the militants. – Sapa