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Singapore denies report militant fled to Indonesia

There is no evidence an Islamic militant suspect who escaped from detention in Singapore has fled to Indonesia as reported by an Indonesian newspaper, the government said yesterday.

"We have checked with our Indonesian counterparts and there is no information that suggests that the report is true," a spokesman for Singapore's ministry of home affairs said.

The Jakarta Post reported on Tuesday that Mas Selamat bin Kastari, the alleged Singapore head of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militant group, has sought refuge in East Java along with top JI leader Noordin Mohammad Top.

The report quoted Indonesian police sources as saying that Noordin, Southeast Asia's most wanted terror suspect, is in East Java seeking treatment for a liver disease.

It quoted police as saying they believed Kastari was also in the province.

Kastari, who escaped from detention on Feb. 27, is said to have close ties with the Malaysian-born Noordin and other senior JI leaders.

Security analysts have said that if Kastari manages to flee from Singapore he is likely to make a dash to Indonesia and rejoin his JI colleagues.

The JI has been blamed for a series of deadly bombings in Southeast Asia, including the 2002 bomb attacks on the Indonesian resort island of Bali that killed 202 people.

Singapore authorities maintain Kastari remains in hiding here and have kept up an intense manhunt for the fugitive, combing forested reserves and suspected urban hideouts as well as tightening controls along the border with Malaysia and Indonesia.

Interpol has also issued an international red alert.

Kastari, 47, was accused of plotting to hijack a plane and crash it into Singapore's Changi Airport in 2001 but was never charged. He was being held under an internal security law which allows for detention without trial.
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