JAKARTA - INDONESIA'S anti-terrorism police unit has found assembled bombs and detained suspects during a raid on a house in Palembang in South Sumatra province, the national police spokesman said on Wednesday.

Police had arrested nine terror suspects in western Indonesia, among them a Singaporean, according to an Associated Press report. TVOne, a local television station, had also reported that the Singaporean had met several times with Osama bin Laden.

The station also quoted police as saying the men had been plotting an attack on Western tourists, but decided to postpone their strike when they realised that too many Indonesians could also end up as victims.

'I can confirm the arrests there but I am unable to say how many,' said police spokesman Abubakar Nataprawira.

'I have been informed there were assembled bombs,' he added.

Southeast Asian militant Islamic network Jemaah Islamiah (JI) has been blamed for a string of deadly attacks in recent years in Indonesia, including the 2002 nightclub bombings on the island of Bali, which killed more than 200 people, mostly foreign tourists.

There have also been a number of deadly bombings against Western targets in the capital Jakarta, although there has been no major attack in Indonesia for more than two years.

A series of raids, often involving Detachment 88, a police unit funded and trained by the United States and Australia, have led to the arrest of hundreds of militant suspects.

Nonetheless, some of JI's more dangerous members remain at large including Noordin Mohammad Top, who is wanted for alleged involvement in some of the group's deadliest attacks.

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