One of Southeast Asia's most-wanted militants has slipped a massive military operation in the southern Philippines and is now in Malaysia, a report said today.

Indonesian-born Dulmatin, wanted for his involvement in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, is reportedly hiding on an island off Malaysia's Borneo, the Philippine Star newspaper.

Dulmatin, a senior member of the Jemaah Islamiah militant group, was not on Basilan or Sulu islands in the southern Philippines, the newspaper said, citing "a reliable Indonesian source."

The paper said Dulmatin slipped out of the country as a military offensive backed by US Special Forces advisers began on Basilan and Sulu two months ago.

He is likely to be hiding on an island near Sabah.

Philippine military chief General Hermogenes Esperon said he doubted the accuracy of the report, telling reporters: "I don't know whose report that is. But we have reports that he is in Sulu with some other high value targets."

He said the hunt for Dulmatin in Sulu was hampered by rugged terrain and a lack of reliable intelligence.

M'sia: He's not here

However Malaysian officials today denied the report, saying that they believed Dulmatin either remained in the Philippines or had fled to Indonesia's Sulawesi island.

"There is no way whatsoever Dulmatin can be in any of our islands. Our current intelligence reports indicate that either he is still in southern Philippines or in Sulawesi," Sabah police chief Nur Rashid Ibrahim told AFP.

Nur Rashid said Sabah security forces had been on top alert since a military offensive backed by US Special Forces advisers began on Basilan and Sulu two months ago.

A senior defence department official who declined to be named said that the only way militants can escape from the Philippines is to Sulawesi, Indonesia.

"Since last month, our security is so tight that militants must go through three layers of defence before they can even see our land," he told AFP.

"First, we have the Malaysian Navy on guard, and then the special ops teams and also the Malaysian Police with the help of the Coast Guards."

Wounded in raid

Philippine military officials said last month that Dulmatin was among those wounded in a raid against Philippine extremist group Abu Sayyaf in Basilan.

Earlier this year Dulmatin's wife, Istiada Binti Oemar Sovie, and all his children, were detained in the southern Philippines and deported to Indonesia.

The Islamic extremist has an 11-million dollar bounty on his head by the US government.

An expert bomb maker, Dulmatin took refuge in the southern Muslim dominated areas of the Philippines after the 2002 Bali bombings.

He is said to have been teaching bomb making skills to Islamic Abu Sayyaf militants who were sheltering him.

Dulmatin, an electronics specialist with training in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, is considered to be one of JI's best bomb makers and trainers.