Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has said there were Islamic militant cells in Malaysia but they represented a small minority and did not pose a threat to national security.

"Yes, there will be cells in Malaysia, but by and large they are a small minority and we can deal with them," Mahathir said in an interview with BBC television on Sunday.

"We are very vigilant and we know what is happening. We have a good intelligence and we can act before things happen."

Mahathir said there were sufficient laws to deal with such groups.

"We are not worried about it," he said.

Detention without trial

The police said they had 92 Muslim militants in detention under the Internal Security Act (ISA) which allows them to be held indefinitely without trial. Some 65 of them allegedly belong to Jemaah Islamiah (JI) and others to an organisation called the Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM).

Some of them were arrested even before the Sept 11, 2001 attack on the United States.

The al-Qaeda-linked JI is said to have carried out a wave of attacks including the Bali bombing last October in pursuit of its aim of creating a pan-Islamic state in the region.

Among the ISA detainees is Yazid Sufaat, a former Malaysian army officer, who is alleged to have links to the attacks on New York and Washington.

Yazid allegedly allowed his apartment to be used in early 2000 for a meeting of al-Qaeda operatives, including two hijackers who were aboard the plane which crashed into the Pentagon.

Preventive measures

Rejecting criticism of the ISA, Mahathir said the law served the national interest.

"Yes, it is criticised in Malaysia but there are lots of people who support it. They would like these people to explode bombs and kill people before we take action.

"The fact is that it is better to prevent the crime from happening than to let the crime happen and then punish the criminal," Mahathir added. - AFP