The wife of top terror suspect Hambali has since this month been detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for two years to assist police in their investigation of her husband, a top police official said today.

Noralwizah Lee Abdullah, a Malaysian national, was handed to police in Kuala Lumpur after she was arrested with her husband in Thailand in August, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"Her detention began on Oct 10 for two years," he said. "She can help us with information about Hambali. We know where ever Hamabli goes, she follows."

She was being held under the ISA which allows for indefinite renewal of standard detention orders.

Seeking Hambali

The official did not say where she was being held, but it was believed to be the Kamunting detention centre in Perak, where all the other ISA detainees are imprisoned.

Dozens of alleged members of Hambali's Jemaah Islamiah (JI) regional terror network are already jailed in Malaysia under the ISA.

Hambali, an Indonesian, married Noralwizah in Malaysia, where he has permanent residence status, after returning from fighting in the anti-Soviet campaign in Afghanistan from 1987 until 1991.

He is the alleged operational chief of the al-Qaeda-linked JI, blamed for the Bali bombings which killed more than 200 people and a string of other bloody attacks in Asia.

He is said to be in the custody of the United States after his capture in Thailand, but his whereabouts have not been revealed.

Malaysia has joined Indonesia in seeking permission from the United States to question Hambali.

Indonesian officials said Hambali was involved in blasts in seven Indonesian cities, and they hoped to gain access to him in an effort to prevent further terror attacks.

US President George W Bush has pledged to share information from the US-led interrogation of Hambali with Indonesia.

Bomb-makers

Malaysia is now focused on capturing two Malaysian militants, Azahari Husin and Noordin Muhammad Top, who are believed to be JI bomb-makers.

Azahari, a 45-year-old former Malaysian university lecturer, is alleged to be the organisation's top explosives expert and is suspected of involvement in last year's Bali bombings and the attack on the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta earlier this month.

"We are looking for them. Indonesia is also looking for them. They can be anywhere. In Southeast Asia or outside the region," Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has said. - AFP