Karachi, Sept 21: Pakistan is questioning 13 Malaysians and two Indonesians arrested in pre-dawn raids for possible links to the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terror network, an intelligence official said today. "There is a possibility that some of them have links with Jemaah Islamiyah," a Southeast Asian network believed linked to al-Qaeda, an intelligence official told a news agency on condition of anonymity.

"We are in touch with the concerned Indonesian and Malaysian agencies." The 15 detainees were rounded up in a series of raids early yesterday on religious schools and hostels in Karachi, the crowded port city of 14 million where hundreds of al-Qaeda operatives have hidden and formed links with local extremists.

The intelligence official said the suspects had been under surveillance for several weeks, suspected of activities "not in Pakistan's national interest." He declined to elaborate further.

Jemaah Islamiyah is blamed for a string of attacks in Indonesia and elsewhere, including church bombings that killed 19 people on Christmas eve 2000, the Bali blasts last October 12 that left 202 people dead and last month's Jakarta Marriott Hotel blast that claimed 12 lives.

Several of its members are reported to have undergone military training at al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and taken instruction in Pakistani religious schools. Bureau Report