1 Learning from Violent Extremist Attacks Chapter 12 Engaging Youths in Counter Violent Extremism (CVE) Initiatives Thomas Koruth SAMUEL Southeast Asia Regional Centre for Counter-Terrorism (SEARCCT), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia Introduction On 26 May 2014, Ahmad Tarmimi Maliki had the ‘dubious honour’ of being the first Malaysian suicide bomber linked to Daesh when he blew up 25 elite Iraqi soldiers at Iraq’s SWAT headquarters in the al-Anbar province. Reports indicated that he drove a ‘military SUV which was filled with tonnes of explosives’ into the SWAT headquarters, killing himself in the process. Tarmimi’s actions together with his photograph was subsequently reported in Daesh’s official website with the heading, Mujahidin Malaysia Syahid Dalam Operasi Martyrdom describing Tarmimi as Malaysia’s first suicide bomber. He was 27-years old when he died (“ISIS and the first Malaysian”, 2014). Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi, also known as Abu Hamzah Al Fateh, left for Raqqa, Syria with his wife in 2014 and was reportedly killed on 26 April 2017 in a drone attack there. He caught the attention of the Malaysian public when he appeared in a video that showed the beheading of a Syrian man. He also developed the skills and networking for both fundraising and recruiting and was linked to at “least a third of the more than 250 people arrested for ISIL- linked activities in Malaysia between 2013 and 2016” (“Top Malaysian ISIL”, 2017). Significantly, he was credited to be the mastermind behind the Movida-Puchong attack which injured eight people in June 2016 and which thus far, remains the sole Daesh inspired attack in Malaysia. Given these developments, Wanndy was named ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist’ making him a ‘high-profile target for law enforcement agencies worldwide’ (“Top Malaysian ISIL”, 2017). He was 26-years old when he died. The capacity and capability of terrorists to identify, indoctrinate and recruit young people is something that has grown in scale, threat and impact. This paper attempts to have a better understanding on this phenomenon by delineating the issues and challenges and subsequently proposing some ideas and recommendations. For purposes of clarity the term ‘terrorism’ and ‘violent extremism’ is used interchangeably in this paper.