The arrest of 11 Muslim militants in Malaysia has crushed a group known as Darul Islam Sabah which assisted figures involved in the 2002 Bali bombings, police said today.

Police chief Bakri Omar said that the group, an offshoot of Indonesia's Darul Islam movement, had plotted to create an Islamic state spanning Indonesia, Malaysia and the southern Philippines.

The 11 members of the group, based in Sabah, had been smuggling firearms and ammunition in the region and were detained over the past two months, he said according to the official Bernama newsagency.

"With their arrests, the police have crushed the underground network of the militant group Darul Islam Sabah who had collaborated with Indonesian militants," he said.

"This group also helped seven Indonesian militants, including Umar Patek and Dul Matin who were involved in the Bali bombings in October 2002, to travel into southern Philippines from Indonesia between 2003 and last March."

Bakri said however that Darul Islam Sabah was found to have no links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda movement. Those arrested included six Malaysians, three Indonesians and two Filipinos.

Two other cells

However, they were believed to have been helping Indonesians militants to travel into southern Philippines where members were undergoing military training, he said.

"They also smuggled in three M16s and eight automatic pistols from southern Philippines for the use of Indonesian militants between 2003 and last March via Sabah," he said.

Bakri said two more Darul Islam Sabah cells were located following the arrests of the 11.

Indonesia has welcomed the arrests and said that the militants had been tracked for some time as they moved from Indonesia to Sabah on Borneo island and the southern Philippines.

"I believe this is a good sign and an important step to fight terrorism," Indonesia Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda told reporters Tuesday.

The Star newspaper which broke the story of the arrests said Wedensday one of the Indonesians arrested was trained in weaponry and bomb-making by Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.