The government has extended the detention without trial of an Islamic militant suspect accused of helping al-Qaeda hijackers involved in the September 11 attacks, his lawyer said.

Former army officer Yazid Sufaat, 42, 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 that crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

Yazid, detained by Malaysian authorities in January 2002, has since been held under the country's Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows for detention without trial.

His two-year detention was first extended in 2004 . Under the law, the government can renew the two-year detention without trial indefinitely.

"The detention has been extended for another two years from Jan 31," counsel Edmund Bon told AFP .

Extension for 36 others?

Yazid, who graduated in the United States in biochemistry, was also questioned by US investigators in November 2002 over connections to Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person to face trial in the United States over the attacks.

Bon said that Malaysian authorities are expected to decide by Feb 22 the fate of 36 other suspected militants being held under the security act.

Malaysia is a mainly-Muslim country that has been sharply critical of the US-led invasion of Iraq, but is at the same time a strong opponent of terrorism, having detained more than 80 alleged Islamic militants.

It is one of the most highly-developed countries in the Islamic world and the level of its infrastructure has been blamed for attracting terrorist suspects.