(AFP) The police said that local groups were collecting firearms from the southern Philippines for Islamic fighters waging a "holy war" in Indonesia's Ambon island.

Two locals and 13 Indonesians were arrested on July 26 off the coast of Tawau in Sabah with a cache of weapons including two M16 rifles, six pistols and ammunition, police inspector general Norian Mai said.

"In the course of our investigations, we established two groups from Malaysia and Indonesia were involved in collecting weapons to be sent over to Islamic fighters in Ambon," he said, the Bernama news agency reported.

Norian said the weapons were obtained from the southern Philippines, particularly from the island of Setangkai.

He said some locals had been attracted to the "jihad" or Muslim holy war in Indonesia's Ambon city, which has been ravaged by violent clashes between Muslims and Christians since 1999.

"Police are alarmed over the easy ways in which illegal weapons from southern Philippines fell into the hands of unauthorised people. This is a serious development as the scope for the entry of such weapons appeared very wide," he added.

Norian said the two Malaysians were detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) which allows indefinite detention without trial.

Waging jihad

The statement followed reports that four Malaysians were suspected of involvement in a series of bombings in Indonesia.

The police also said this week they were investigating if the four had links to an outfit called the Malaysian Mujahideen Group (KMM), accused of waging jihad here and blamed for a spate of crimes including robbery, murder and the bombing of a church and an Indian temple.

Ten alleged members of the KMM, including seven members of PAS, were detained last month under the ISA.

Norian said police were looking for five more alleged members of the group, including two Indonesian preachers with permanent residence here.