Australia said today it was confident Indonesian police would be able to arrest two Malaysian explosives experts accused of masterminding the Australian embassy bombing in Jakarta in September.

Indonesia's detectives were "working hard" to arrest Azahari Husin and Noordin Mohammad Top, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said here after talks with national police chief General Da'i Bachtiar.

"I am confident they will track them down and arrest them in time. They're working very hard on that and we'll do what we can to assist the Indonesian police," he told reporters.

Downer also announced that Australia was doubling counter-terrorism assistance to Indonesia from RM30 million to RM60 million over the next five years.

The money will partly go towards enhancing joint anti-terror centers established by the two countries in Indonesia in the wake of the October 2002 Bali bombings in which 202 people were killed -- 88 of them Australian.

Azahari and Noordin have been linked to the Bali attacks and the bombing last year of Jakarta's Marriott hotel that left 12 dead.

The attacks have been blamed by authorities on Jemaah Islamiah, a regional extremist organisation said to have links to Al-Qaeda.

British-trained engineer

Azahari, 47, is an Australian-educated, British-trained engineer and former university lecturer who has eluded a regional manhunt for several years.

Downer said intelligence reports suggested the two fugitives were attempting to train up more potential suicide attackers.

"We have no doubt that these people are out there trying to recruit, get more people including people who might be prepared to resort to suicide bombing," he said.

Downer was on a short visit to Indonesia to attend a meeting of senior Asia-Pacific clerics in central Java that called for moderate religious groups to help fight militancy.

Indonesia and Australia have forged closer ties in the fight against terrorism since the Bali blasts, patching up an often uneasy relationship.

Anti-Australian sentiment ran high in 1999 after Canberra led an international military force into East Timor to end violence backed by the Indonesian military after the country voted for independence from Jakarta.

Australia's Defence Minister Robert Hill is due to visit Indonesia next week.