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SINGAPORE, Jan 20 (AFP) - As the US-led war on global terrorism moves beyond Afghanistan, increasing attention is being focused on Southeast Asia as a fertile breeding ground for Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

Recent arrests in Singapore and Malaysia, the US military deployment to the southern Philippines and concern over radical Muslim activity in Indonesia have highlighted the region's prominent place in the anti-terror campaign.

The Washington Post reported Friday that US intelligence agencies fear the next terrorist attack in the United States could come not from an Arab commando but from an Asian, or even African, who would more easily elude suspicion.

It quoted US officials as saying the Federal Bureau of Investigation had sent more agents to Asia and American customs officers were instructed to pay more attention to incoming travelers from the area.

Jane's Intelligence Review said the al-Qaeda network, accused of the September 11 terror attacks on the United States, remained virtually intact in Asia despite its decimation in other parts of the world.

"Al-Qaeda's network in the United States, Europe, and East Africa has been disrupted significantly as a result of investigations and widespread arrests," according to the respected authority on defence and security issues.

"In Asia, however, a network of cells and support structures remains virtually intact, both before and after September 11," it said in an article reprinted January 4 in the Singapore Straits Times.

The threat to the region's non-Muslim countries such as Australia, South Korea and Japan was "considerable," Jane's said. It added that countries with substantial Muslim populations such as Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines were also vulnerable.

With al-Qaeda under pressure in North America, Europe, East Africa and the Middle East, Asia "is likely to become its last bastion," the article said.

Events have lent credence to the Jane's assessment.

The United States already looks ready to open the next significant front in its anti-terror drive in the southern Philippines, where government troops are battling the Islamic guerrilla group Abu Sayyaf.

Some 250 American soldiers are already in the country, US officials said. More, including special forces, are on the way to help the Filipinos tackle the notorious kidnap-for ransom group with suspected al-Qaeda links.

Singapore authorities were holding 13 people who were arrested last month for allegedly having links to al-Qaeda and plotting to attack the US embassy and other targets in the normally tranquil city-state.

Malaysian officials said Saturday they had detained another seven people believed to be members of a local mujahedin group accused of waging a "holy war" after undergoing military training in Afghanistan.

The arrests came less than a month after the detention of 15 alleged militants with suspected links to Zacarias Moussaoui, a Frenchman on trial in the United States for his alleged role in the September 11 attacks.

Indonesia has found itself on a short-list of potential targets for possible US military action to eradicate terrorist sanctuaries, although Jakarta firmly insists al-Qaeda are nowhere to be found in the country.

In an interview with the New York Times published on January 8, US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz expressed concern about possible links between terrorists and Muslim militants in Indonesia.

"You see the potential for Muslim extremists and Muslim terrorists to link up with those Muslim groups in Indonesia and find a little corner for themselves in a country that's otherwise quite unfriendly to terrorism," he said.

Some regional officials, such as Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong have called for urgent and concerted action to deal with the terrorist threat facing Southeast Asia.

The arrests of terror suspects reported to be linked to al-Qaeda "have revealed the extent of the al-Qaeda network and its penetration into the region," Goh said last Sunday.

"We must address firmly and rapidly the security threats posed by the existence of this terrorist network at our doorsteps."

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