The government today warned that any covert military action by the United States against terrorist targets, such as the missile strike in Yemen last week, would be unacceptable here.

"We do not need any foreign interference or foreign troops in the country. We are capable of fighting terrorists," Defence Minister Najib Tun Razak told the official Bernama news agency.

Najib had been asked to comment on a report that US State Department coordinator for counterrorism Francis Taylor had said the Yemen strike could be emulated in Southeast Asia.

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi also dismissed the possibility Sunday, saying the United States could not conduct any sort of military operation in Malaysia without first informing the government and seeking its cooperation.

"There is no place for covert operations here," he said.