JAKARTA - More than 200 Islamic militants from Southeast Asia have been sent on missions to attack Israel's interests and countries that support the Jewish state, their leader said on Friday.

Activists from the Pakistani right-wing Islamic party Islami Jamiat Tulba the hold Koran as they chant anti-Israel slogans during a protest against Israel's air strikes on Lebanon and Gaza, in Lahore August 3, 2006. [Reuters]

The fighters have been trained to carry out suicide bombings to revenge Israel's military strikes on the Palestinian territories and Lebanon, said Suaib Didu, chairman of the Jakarta-based ASEAN Muslim Youth Movement (AMYM).

"We will limit our targets to Israel's vital interests and those that support Israel's aggression in Palestine and Lebanon. We will not carry out attacks indiscriminately," Didu told Reuters.

Hardline militant groups in Indonesia have made claims in the past of sending volunteers to participate in conflicts overseas which have sometimes proved exaggerated.

Din Syamsuddin, chairman of the moderate Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's second largest Muslim organization, said on Thursday that threats by radical Muslim groups to send volunteers to fight Israel were just "symbolic gestures."

"There are too many obstacles for these people to travel there. It is too costly and the Israeli army is no match for them," he told reporters.

But Didu said more than 3,000 people had signed up for the mission but only 217 people from Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore dispatched abroad so far.

A "show of force" of the more than 3,000 volunteers will be held on Saturday in Pontianak in West Kalimantan province on Borneo island, Didu said, adding that many of the 200-plus fighters were veterans who fought alongside Afghan fighters during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

Western countries such as the United States and Britain as well as businesses could be targeted unless they ceased supporting Israel, he said.

Didu said the group was watching Australia's position on the Middle East conflict.

"If John Howard makes a statement in support of Israel, he will be a target," Didu said.

In response, the Indonesian government said it would not advise volunteers go to the Middle East and wage war against Israel, but it also could not stop travel of citizens in general.

"If someone has a good intention, just say 'in the name of God' and go," foreign affairs spokesman Desra Percaya said.

Asked at a weekly news briefing whether that would also be applied to a citizen on an anti-Israel suicide bombing mission, Percaya said: "I'm not going to reply directly on whether this particular person has a good or bad intention."

SYMBOLIC GESTURE

In Canberra, Human Services Minister Joe Hockey said the government was not shrugging off reports of the AMYM's plans.

"The minister for foreign affairs and the Department of Foreign Affairs are investigating what is reported in the papers today and we are treating it very, very seriously," Hockey told Australian television.

Australia is a staunch ally of the United States, with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. While it has been targeted in attacks in Indonesia, Australia has never suffered a major peacetime attack on home soil.

Australia and Indonesia strengthened cooperation on counter-terrorism following the 2002 nightclub bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, which killed 202 people, including 88 Australian tourists.