(AFP) The government is to request the extradition of a Malaysian arrested for suspected terrorist activities in Singapore after authorites there have completed their investigations, reports said today.

Deputy Home Affairs minister Zainal Abidin Zin said the government wanted to interrogate the suspect, businessman Faiz Abu Bakar Bafana, 39, as part of its efforts to establish a link between several terrorist groups in the region.

Zainal said the government had discovered a link between terrorist groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan with similar groups in the region but needed more information to establish the extent of their co-operation.

"We need more information from the suspects to understand the connection between these terrorist groups," he was quoted by the Utusan Malaysia newspaper as saying.

Malaysia said Sunday it was convinced that Singapore has concrete evidence to warrant the arrest of 15 alleged terrorists, including Faiz, and would wait for further developments.

"We are convinced that the Singapore government had sufficient intelligence and other information before making the arrests," he was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency.

Linked to terrorism

Singapore's home affairs ministry Saturday said police had detained 14 Singaporeans and a Malaysian for alleged involvement in terrorist activities, including procuring materials for making bombs and surveillance of potential targets.

Thirteen of them are allegedly "cell members" of a clandestine organisation called Jemaah Islamiah, with several of them receiving training under terror suspect Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, the ministry said.

The remaining two have not been confirmed as members, while some members of the group are believed to have fled the country. The 15 are held under Singapore's Internal Security Act which allows detention without trial.

The Singaporean announcement came after Malaysian police Friday said they had arrested 13 men belonging to a group with links to Zacarias Moussaoui, a Frenchman facing charges in the United States in connection with the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.