(AFP) Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has urged the United States not to mount a war on Afghanistan as innocent people would be killed, reports said today.

While Malaysia supports US moves to hunt down terrorists following the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, Mahathir said terrorism would persist even if Afghanistan was occupied by the west.

"We have to object to any intended war as we do not see it as a solution," he was quoted as saying by Bernama .

"...terrorists are everywhere... even if Afghanistan is defeated and occupied by the western powers, this does not guarantee terrorism is defused, perhaps the terrorists may strike again elsewhere."

Mahathir called on the United Nations to organise an international conference on terrorism to determine its causes and formulate measures to deal with it.

He said a lasting solution can only be found if the world understood what provoked the fury that led to the kamikaze attacks on the New York's World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in Washington.

Links to Taliban

The premier said Malaysia was also "uneasy with the Taliban as well as Osama bin Laden" as there were links between the Afghan rulers and home-grown militants known as the Malaysian Mujahiddeen Group.

He said members of the Malaysian group were trained in Afghanistan and Pakistan and idolised bin Laden, the prime suspect behind the attacks in the US which left more than 6,000 dead or missing.

He said the group rejected democracy which it viewed as unIslamic.

"They are bent on installing a government by force and doing away with democracy after that and would then rule the country according to what they deemed as the Islamic way," Mahathir said.

Nine members of the Malaysian group - said to be waging an Islamic "holy war" and blamed for a spate of crimes - were put in a detention camp for two years earlier this month under the Internal Security Act (ISA) allowing detention without trial.

Ringleader

A tenth person was placed under the Restricted Residence Act and confined to Johor.

Among the 10 were accused ringleader Nik Adli Nik Aziz, the son of the spiritual leader of PAS.

Opposition leaders and rights groups have voiced concern that the ISA was being used to stifle any challenge to Mahathir's 20-year rule, a charge he denies.