SINGAPORE - The Singapore government said today it has arrested a further 21 suspected terrorists, including some who had undergone military training at al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan.

The arrests were made last month, the home ministry said in a statement which gave no reason for the delay in making the news public, but said the government will issue a detailed statement soon.

Nineteen of the 21 "are or have been" members of the Islamic group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), and two are linked to the Philippines-based Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), it said.

The ministry said the latest arrests have "seriously disrupted" the JI network in Singapore and "there is no known imminent security threat from other JI elements".

Military training

Thirteen JI members were arrested last December, accused of plotting to blow up US and other Western targets in the city-state.

"As a result of the continuing investigation on the Jemaah Islamiyah network, the Internal Security Department has arrested another 21 persons in August... for involvement in terrorism-related activities," the statement said.

"A few have undergone military training at al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and at the MILF's Camp Abu Bakar in Mindanao.

"Several have conducted reconnaissance and surveys of selected targets in Singapore on the instruction of their JI leaders, most of whom are among those arrested earlier in December 2001."

All 34 arrested terrorist suspects are being held under Singapore's tough Internal Security Act (ISA) which allows for detention without trial.

A report on the original 13 arrested said they they had all admitted "terrorism-related" activity and were tied to a plot that would have had catastrophic consequences if they had pulled it off.

Their plans included buying 17 tonnes of ammonium nitrate to make seven massive truck bombs.

"This plot, if carried out, would certainly have caused loss of lives, physical injury, and ... considering the huge amount of ammonium nitrate which they intended to acquire, the consequences would have been catastrophic," the ISA Advisory Board review said.

Videotape

A videotape of likely bombing targets in Singapore was found in the Afghanistan home of Mohammed Atef, the military adviser of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, who was reportedly killed when his house was bombed by US forces last November.

The home affairs ministry has said JI's Singapore leader, Ibrahim Maidin, has admitted that "innocent Singaporeans would be killed, just as innocent Muslims were killed when the US bombed Afghanistan and al-Qaeda members".

The Singapore government believes several JI members fled the tiny city-state last December when the 13 arrests were made.

They included a militant who had been planning to hijack a commercial jetliner and crash it into Singapore's Changi airport.

Two others Jabarah Mohammad Mansour, who was later arrested in Oman, and Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi was was arrested in the Philippines were said to be the brains behind the operation and had intended bringing in suicide bombers from overseas.

According to the ministry, the local JI members would help with surveillance and identifying targets and would leave Singapore a few days before the planned attacks.

Real threat

Singapore has been a staunch supporter of the US-led war against terror, and days before the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Defence Minister Tony Tan said the threat of a terrorist strike in Singapore remained very real.

"They are only biding their time and waiting for the right opportunity to strike," said Tan. — AFP