Bangkok, Nov 18 (IANS/EFE): Malaysian authorities have arrested three nationals who fought alongside the Islamic State (IS) Sunni radical group in Syria and Iraq and who had recently returned to the country, press reports said Tuesday.

According to The Malaysian Insider, at least two other militants have returned to Malaysia, but the police have yet to arrest them.

Deputy Interior Minister Wan Junaidi warned Monday that the jihadi wished to expand the ideology of the terrorist group in Southeast Asia.

They have not returned to surrender to the authorities but to influence the people with their ideologies, Junaidi told parliament.

Malaysian intelligence has identified at least 39 citizens collaborating with the IS.

According to the intelligence services of several Southeast Asian nations, the jihadi group seeks to establish a radical Islamic caliphate in a region comprising Malaysia, Indonesia and southern Thailand.

Since the end of the last century, Islamic terrorism has gained notoriety in Southeast Asia through bloody attacks like the 2002 bombing of a nightclub in the Indonesian tourist resort of Bali that killed 202 people.

The Bali bombings were perpetrated by the Jemaah Islamiah, regarded as the regional arm of Al Qaeda, but now experts fear that the Islamic State may become another incentive for radical Islamists in the region.

The governments of the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have faced a resurgence of Islamic terrorism with the arrest of hundreds of suspects facilitated through improved cooperation.