Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told Australia it was not welcome in Malaysia after Canberra said it wanted to maintain an indefinite anti-terrorism presence in the region.

Mahathir, a veteran Muslim leader who has criticised Australia for sending troops to fight in Iraq, made no secret of his disdain when asked to comment o­n Australia's plan.

"They can go anywhere but don't come to Malaysia. You can tell them they are not welcome here," he told reporters.

Malaysia has had very testy relations with Australia, with Mahathir in the past deriding Australian Prime Minister John Howard as America's "deputy sherif" in Asia.

Active cooperation sought

Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said Monday that Australia wanted active cooperation in the region amid terrorism alerts here after a week of bombings by Islamic radicals in Saudi Arabia and Morocco.

Keelty plans to seek agreement at an Asian police chiefs' meeting in the Philippines this month for Australia to maintain a "flying squad" of counter-terrorism officers in the region.

The squad will initially be based in Indonesia, where dozens of Australian police have been working with their local counterparts to track down those responsible for the October 2002 bombing in Bali that killed 202 people, 88 of whom were Australian.

Australian police are also o­n the ground in the Philippines investigating bombings attributed to Jemaah Islamiah, the radical Muslim group behind the Bali blasts and other terrorist plots in the region. - AFP