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Prince Harry challenged by Singaporean Isil militant: 'Why don’t you come here and fight us'

Prince Harry wears his monocle gun sight as he sits in the front seat of his cockpit in Afghanistan - AP
Prince Harry wears his monocle gun sight as he sits in the front seat of his cockpit in Afghanistan - AP

A Singaporean Isil militant has challenged Prince Harry to a fight in a new video that emerged this weekend.

The three and a half minute long footage, shot in English, shows a fighter identified as Abu Uqayl from Singapore laying down the challenge after taking issue with the prince talking about a terror attack in London when he visited the affluent Asian city-state in June.

“Why don’t you come here and fight us if you’re man enough, so that we can send you and your Apaches to hellfire, biidhnillah (Allah permitting)?” he says.

The video, believed to be the first time that a militant from Singapore has featured prominently in propaganda by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, was circulated by the US-based SITE intelligence group, which monitors jihadist activities.

The royal’s visit to Singapore three months ago was overshadowed by an Isil-claimed attack near London bridge, during which terrorists ran people over with a van and went on a stabbing spree, killing seven.

Singapore’s interior ministry has confirmed it believes the man in the video is a citizen called Meghat Shahdan bin Abdul Samad, 39, who went to Syria to join the Islamic State terrorist group after becoming radicalised when working in the Middle East.  

Prince Harry races out from the VHR (very high ready-ness) tent to scramble his Apache  - Credit: AP
Prince Harry races out from the VHR (very high ready-ness) tent to scramble his Apache Credit: AP

The video focuses more generally on the recruitment of militants to join jihadist causes in East Asia and the Middle East.

It is believed to be part of a series of videos titled Inside the Caliphate, produced by the Al Hayat Media Centre, Isil’s propaganda wing . Earlier videos have sought to appeal to Muslims in Southeast Asia to join Isil-linked groups fighting in Marawi in the southern Philippines.

Analysts have described the video as a “game changer”, reported the Straits Times, pointing to it as evidence of the terror group’s shifting focus towards Southeast Asia and its English-speaking Muslims.

Singapore’s leaders have warned that the city is a prime target for a terror attack because it has taken a strong stance against terrorism and is a world-renowned financial centre.