exclusive The United States travel warning last week specifically naming Malaysia may have been based on credible information secured during the interrogation of a recently detained al-Qaeda suspect.

Author of Inside al-Qaeda: Global network of terror Dr Rohan Gunaratna said the US may have singled out Malaysia because of specific information gathered from Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

Abd al-Rahim, who is said to be the terror network's top leader in the Gulf, is now in the custody of US authorities.

"I think the US warning must be taken seriously. It is because the warning was based on credible information," said the author in an interview with malaysiakini last Friday.

However, Rohan said that US authorities should have first discussed their findings privately with Malaysia before issuing the travel alert.

"Today, the threat of terrorism is not only in Malaysia. It is wrong on the part of any government to single out any particular country.

"The threat of terrorism in Malaysia is equal to that in the US," he added.

Terrorist once based in Malaysia

Rohan also pointed out that Abd al-Rahim was listed in his book as Abdul Rehman Hussain Muhammad al-Safani, a terrorist suspect said to have been based in Malaysia during the Sept 11 attacks.

"I mentioned in my book that this man was in charge of the Gulf operations, targetting South Asia, and that he was also based in Malaysia," he said.

Abd al-Rahim is said to be arrested in Kuwait in recent weeks but this has not been confirmed by the authorities.

Contacted later, Bukit Aman federal police headquarters spokesperson Shamsuddin Ali denied any knowledge if the arrested al-Qaeda suspect had been in Malaysia.

"We do not know this person. The ones that we know have already been arrested as members of the Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM)," he said.

The KMM is said to be an organisation which had plotted to overthrow the government via militant means. Since last year, some 70 alleged members of the group have been arrested under the Internal Security Act.

Close-door lecture

The Singapore-based Rohan was in Kuala Lumpur last week to give a close-door lecture to "senior government officials" at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies.

Last month, his book was at the centre of a controversy when the United Nations monitoring group of the Afghan Sanctions Committee named it as the source of a chart linking several Malaysian organisations, including Barisan Nasional and PAS, to al-Qaeda via their connection with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a southern Philippines separatist group.

However, leaders of the two political parties later clarified that the al-Qaeda link was made by the UN team and not the author, and had since sought a retraction from the monitoring group.

Meanwhile, Rohan said the US travel warnings against Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries were due to the "high threat" posed by the "significant presence" of al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah (JI) members in the region.

He added that "there is still a significant threat" in the region despite multiple arrests of suspected terrorists by authorities in countries such as Malaysia and Singapore.

Hambali in Thailand?

For instance, Rohan said that in January this year, fugitive Indonesian militant leader Riduan Isamuddin alias Hambali had proposed for al-Qaeda to carry out attacks in bars, restaurants and nightclubs in a number of countries including Malaysia.

Asked about the whereabouts of the JI leader, he said based on debriefings with al-Qaeda detainees, terrorism experts have placed the elusive Hambali in Thailand.

However, this has been denied by the Thai government who has threatened to sue several foreign news organisations over the allegation.

Hambali, who has been on the run for several years now, is wanted by authorities in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia in connection with several terrorist attacks in various locations in the region.

The suspected militant is also said to have organised terrorist training camps in Negeri Sembilan while living in local village during his exile from Indonesia from the mid-1980s to 1998.

Rohan Gunaratna's Q&A: Rohan: M'sia targeted by al-Qaeda since January

Tomorrow: Al-Qaeda links with JI and Bali bombings .