MANILA - Philippines security forces have arrested three Malaysian men in an anti-terrorist sweep in the southern city of General Santos, the military said today.

A military report named the detained foreigners as Jaka Antari, Julkiri Letemba and Rahman Yanis, all described as "Malaysian nationals".

Military and police intelligence units said the arrests resulted from a search of homes in General Santos on Saturday, including the residence of a naturalised Indonesian, Uskar Makawata, who was not detained.

The report said the authorities seized guns and bullets from the first house and "subversive" documents from the house of Makawata.

It did not say whether the authorities seized anything from the residence of the Malaysians.

Terrorist base

Philippine authorities earlier said General Santos was the suspected base of a cell of the Jemaah Islamiah .

Jemaah Islamiah is a militant Southeast Asian Islamic group which authorities said aimed to establish Islamic states in the region.

The group is also allegedly link to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network.

Two Indonesian men have been jailed in the Philippines on explosives charges. One of them, Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi, was accused of having links with a number of Filipinos arrested in General Santos in connection with the deadly bombing of a local shopping mall last year.

In Malaysia, police said the Kumpulan Mujahiddin Malaysia (KMM) whose members allegedly received military training in Afghanistan was also part of Jemaah Islamiah.

Since last year, scores of KMM members have been detained under the Internal Security Act. Among them is Nik Adli, the son of Kelantan Menteri Besar and PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat. AFP