Alleged terrorist mastermind Noordin Mohammad Top is actively recruiting propective suicide bombers and maintains close contact with jailed Islamic militants, a newspaper said today.

Noordin, accused of masterminding a string of deadly attacks in Indonesia which have left hundreds dead, had also formed a new division within the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) regional extremist network, Koran Tempo said, citing intelligence documents.

"Even though his scope for action is limited, the Intelligence Agency is convinced that Noordin's network is continuing to form istimata brigades (suicide bomb squads)," Koran Tempo said.

It said the fugitive Malaysian, believed to be in hiding on Java, had set up a new command within JI called "mas'ul" to operate at district level. The group's existing command structure operated at regional and provincial levels.

"Each ma'sul is in contact with Jemaah Islamiyah leaders, including those who are in jail," the daily cited the documents as saying, adding that mas'ul was also tasked with setting up suicide squads.

The parliament's commission on defence affairs was briefed Monday on the latest developments in the hunt for terror suspects.

"It is true that they have changed their modus operandi," Tempo quoted legislator MS Simbolon as saying.

Narrowly escaped arrest

Police earlier this month said Noordin had set up a new group called Tandzim Qoedatul Jihad six months before last October's Bali suicide bombings, information that was contained in documents seized from 12 militants arrested in Bali and Central Java.

The triple suicide bombing on Bali last October killed 20 bystanders as well as the bombers.

Noordin's compatriot and partner-in-crime Azahari Husin, a master bombmaker, was killed by police during a raid on his hideout in East Java last November.

Noordin narrowly escaped arrest in Semarang, the capital of Central Java province, earlier the same day.

Azahari and Noordin were orginally key operators in JI but experts believe they left to form a more hardline group. More moderate JI members were said to be upset at the large loss of Muslim lives their attacks had caused.