Singapore has said it wants a group of suspected terrorists holed up in Southeast Asia to be extradited over a plot to blow up American, Israeli and other targets in the city-state.
Negotiations were under way with Indonesia, the home base of the militant Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) organisation, whose members are also believed to be scattered through Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.
JI has been linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, and 13 members were arrested in Singapore last December planning what an official report described as a potentially "catastrophic" bombing campaign.
Other JI members fled after the arrests, Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng told parliament Tuesday.
"They are dispersed and are believed to be hiding in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and possibly the Philippines," Wong said.
"Efforts are being made to bring them back to assist in investigations." Wong said there had been discussions with Indonesian authorities and "they understood what we have on them [JI members], but Indonesian laws apparently currently do not allow them to take action at the moment." Wong gave no further details on the talks with Indonesia nor the number of wanted JI members, but said his ministry was finalising a White Paper on the 13 arrests and the terrorist threat.
The home ministry had earlier named Mas Selamat Kastari as a JI member and Islamic militant who planned to hijack a commercial jet and crash it into Singapore's Changi Airport. He is now believed living in Indonesia.
Singapore has also labelled an Indonesian Muslim cleric, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, as the leader of the terrorist organisation.
The 13 arrested JI members are being held under Singapore's tough Internal Security Act, which allows detention without trial. They are said to have confessed to "terrorism-related" activities and to trying to buy 17 tonnes of ammonium nitrate to make seven huge bombs.
Wong said security agencies in the region were working closely on terrorist-related investigations. "As a result of the information that we share with the Malaysians, for example, they have also mounted their own operation and found their own group of Jemaah Islamiyah," he said.
Last month, the home ministry said two men, code-named "Sammy" and "Mike", were the brains behind the intended operation in Singapore which targeted the US embassy and other Western interests, as well as an underground railway station.
Local operatives were to carry out surveillance and preparatory work with suicide bombers brought in from overseas to complete the job.
Sammy was arrested in Oman in July using a Canadian passport bearing the name of a 20-year-old Kuwaiti, Jabarah Mohammad Mansour. He is now in US custody. Mike was identified as Indonesian Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, who is now serving a 12-year jail sentence in the Philippines.