(AFP) A Philippine Muslim separatist group today denied having links with the Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM) militants alleged to have received training at their military camp in the southern Philippines.

Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) spokesman, Eid Kabalu, said the group did not allow foreigners into its training camps.

Police here said Thursday they had detained 23 KMM members, including four Indonesians and three Singaporeans, who they claimed had links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda and other terror networks.

Inspector-General of Police, Norian Mai, told a news conference that 19 of the 23 detainees had received military training outside the country - 10 in Afghanistan and nine in Mindanao in the southern Philippines.

'Disguised themselves'

"We need to know the time they received the training, so that we can check," Kabalu was quoted by the official Bernama news agency as saying.

He said there was a possibility that the nine KMM members could have disguised themselves as BangsaMoro people to enter the MILF camps.

"As far as I know, the (training) academy only accepts BangsaMoro," he told Bernama in a telephone interview.

The 12,500-strong MILF is fighting for the creation of an Islamic state in the south of the Philippines, which is largely Roman Catholic.

Asked of the MILF's involvement in a regional radical Muslim network, Kabalu said the MILF was transparent in its operations and had no links with any other groups in the region.