MOSCOW - Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad warned Saturday against an extension of the US anti-terror campaign to other countries and called for a counterweight to offset US domination in international affairs.

"We do not think the war should be extended to include other countries, especially Muslim countries which seem to have been labelled as helping terrorists," Mahathir said on the fourth and last day of a visit to Russia where he held talks on increasing military-technical trade.

His comments came amid mounting concern in the Islamic world that after its campaign to oust the fundamentalist Taliban regime in Afghanistan, the United States was preparing to launch strikes against Iraq because of its alleged development of weapons of mass destruction.

Talks with Putin

Russia has warned that it would not support US strikes against Iraq the way it backed the US-led campaign in Afghanistan.

Mahathir, who held talks on Thursday with President Vladimir Putin, said he believed "the world should together hunt down terrorists, (but Malaysia) did not quite agree to military action in Afghanistan (where) the costs were too high because civilians were the victims of the attack.

"We think we should tackle the terror problem by identifying the causes of terrorism and getting rid of these causes," he said.

The premier, who was to travel on to Germany and Poland, called for a greater balance of power in international affairs, warning that "if you have too much power on one side, you are likely to topple."

Questioned by reporters about the US role as the world's sole superpower, he commented that "there needs to be a balance of power, as there has been in Europe for ages, ... because when one side dominates, there is a tendency for them to become very domineering, very inconsiderate of others."

Fighter planes

On a possible Malaysian purchase of Russia's Sukhoi-30MK fighter plane, Mahathir said he would "certainly consider" making the purchase, though Kuala Lumpur would, if it went ahead "expect the participation of Malaysia technicians" in the subsequent modifications, assembly and testing of the aircraft.

Yesterday he attended a demonstration of the plane, a two-seater long-range version of the SU-27 interceptor and strike aircraft, at the Zhukovsky aerodrome just outside Moscow, saying there was a "fair chance" of the order going through.

Mahathir said on Thursday he had discussed a military equipment deal at his meeting with Putin.

Defence Minister Abdul Razak Najib, one of the large delegation that is accompanying Mahathir, explaining why a deal on the plane had not been concluded during the visit, told AFP a decision on the fighter plane would be made by the government.

"We have not started negotiations, but pilots from our airforce have tested the aircraft, and ... we were very happy with the way they performed.

"Now it is for the government to take the decision. It is just a matter of procedure," he said.