Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today hit out at the foreign press for carrying reports linking Malaysia to the Sept 11 terror attacks on the United States.

He was referring to the recent articles that have appeared in magazines such as Newsweek and Jane's Intelligence Review, which alleged that there was a Malaysian connection in the attacks.

"We have done very well in the management of the economy, the race relations... we have developed rapidly. None of these are ever mentioned. These publications have no moral values and are bent on telling lies," Mahathir said, adding that the foreign publications could have an agenda for publishing such reports.

"Sometimes freedom of the press is abused and these people have their own agenda. We know they don't like Malaysia for some reason or other," he said.

Mahathir was speaking to reporters after officiating the Finance Ministry's 'Meet the Client Day' in Kuala Lumpur.

No Malaysian connection

The latest issue of Newsweek, quoting Federal Bureau of Investigation sources, said that Malaysia had served as a "primary operational launchpad for the Sept 11 attacks".

It also named Yazid Sufaat, a former Malaysian army captain now detained under the Internal Security Act, as an Osama bin Laden middleman who has helped to develop a terrorist network in Malaysia and throughout Southeast Asia.

Mahathir denied vehemently that there was any Malaysian connection in the Sept 11 attacks.

He said that Malaysians who have gone to Pakistan and Afghanistan to train in the terrorist camps there were planning to destabilise Malaysia and expressed doubts that they had the sophistication to plan the Sept 11 attacks.

Earlier this month, defence publication Jane's Intelligence Review also carried a report that insinuated the Malaysian government could have helped avert the Sept 11 attacks as some of the suspected terrorists were seen in the country in January 2000.

Mahathir dismissed the report as another ploy by a foreign publication to find fault with the country.

However, Malaysia has arrested 23 members of KMM, or the Malaysian Mujahidin Group, for their alleged involvement in terrorist activities. At a press conference held last Friday, police chief Norian Mai said the militant group was planning to set up an Islamic nation.