Government censors will tighten controls on publications that promote terrorism and Muslim "holy war", officials said today.

Internal Security Ministry secretary-general Abdul Aziz Mohamad Yusof said inspections at border points would be increased to prevent militant publications from reaching Malaysia.

"The ministry has ordered officials to be on the alert so that the teachings of terrorism and armed 'jihad' do not spread throughout our society as the consequences are extremely dangerous," he told the official Bernama news agency.

Abdul Aziz said officials had detected publications that urged Muslims to take up "jihad" by committing acts of terror, with promises of rewards in heaven.

A cause for concern

The entry of such publications into Malaysia was not new, he said, but the rising terrorist threat around the world made it more of a cause for concern.

Malaysian extremists have come into the spotlight recently with the death of bombmaker Azahari Husin in a police shootout in Indonesia last month, and a major hunt for his compatriot, Noordin Mohammad Top.

The two have been accused of being members of the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah network and of orchestrating a string of bloody attacks, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.

More than 80 alleged Islamic militants have been detained in Malaysia in recent years, many of them suspected Jemaah Islamiyah members.