Thailand has asked Malaysia to help capture five Muslim rebels wanted for terrorist activities, a police spokesman said today.

Thai security authorities believe the men, including a bomb expert trained in Afghanistan, are hiding out in the neighbouring country.

"Thailand has sought Malaysia's assistance. We will investigate their claim that the rebels are in Malaysia. If we capture them, we will hand them over to Thai authorities," a senior police official told AFP .

The men allegedly belong to three Islamic separatist groups in southern Thailand, and the authorities there have offered rewards up to RM30,000 for information leading to their arrest.

They were identified as Abdul Rahman Putih, Mohamad Merah, Wan Hamat, Mohamad Nasir Che Lan and Mansur Algah.

Wanted for terrorist acts

South Thailand deputy police chief Major-General Kani Kavisi said intelligence reports indicated the five were in Malaysia.

"We believe they are hiding somewhere in Kelantan, Terengganu, Kuala Lumpur, Perak and Kedah," he was quoted as saying by the Malay Mail newspaper.

Kani said the five suspects are wanted for killing policemen and bombing public places in Southern Thailand.

He said Mohamad Nasir, who belongs to the Pattani United Liberation Organisation, is the most wanted among the five as he is a bomb expert who trained and fought in Afghanistan in the early 1990s.

"Our records show that Mohamad Nasir was responsible for six bombings in Southern Thailand," he said.

The other two rebel groups to which the wanted men belong were named as the Thai Mujahedin Militant and the Pattani National Revolution Front.

The groups say they are fighting for a separate Islamic state in southern Thailand but the rebels are hopelessly fractured and often derided as nothing more than bandits using Islam as a front.