June 9 (Bloomberg) -- Singapore arrested five men suspected of being Islamic militants, including a lawyer who was allegedly preparing to fight with the Taliban in Afghanistan, the government said.

Abdul Basheer Abdul Kader, 28, was arrested in February. He had purchased an air ticket for Pakistan, where he planned to contact the militant group Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and join the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan, Singapore's Home Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

Basheer was ``self-radicalised'' and ``deeply influenced by the extremist propaganda he read on the Internet,'' the statement said. He traveled to an unidentified country in the Middle East last year to study Arabic, and by December ``had decided to embark on `militant jihad' immediately,'' it said. Basheer was arrested and returned to Singapore.

Basheer is a law graduate from the National University of Singapore, and was also once the lead singer in a rock band, the Straits Times newspaper reported.

A spokesman for the Home Affairs Ministry, Yap Neng Jye, didn't immediately respond to a request for the name of Basheer's lawyer. He declined to give further details, citing security concerns.

The other four men detained were members of the Jemaah Islamiyah militant group, the statement said. Singapore has accused the group of plotting terrorist attacks dating back to 2001, and has linked it to al Qaeda. The four are Ishak Mohamed Noohu, Mohamed Hussain bin Saynudin, Mohamed Yassin O.P. Mohamed Nooh and Ibrahim bin Mohamed Noor.

Terrorist Training

Ishak underwent terrorist training in the Philippines, and was involved in JI plans dating back to 2001 to attack foreign targets in Singapore, and is linked to a team that planned to hijack a plane and crash it into Changi airport, the statement said. He was arrested in November last year.

Hussain trained with Lashkar-e-Tayyiba in Pakistan and helped Basheer develop his plans to carry out violent jihad, the statement said. It said he was arrested in February, as was Mohamed Yassin, who underwent JI training in Malaysia and was involved in raising money for the organization.

The fourth man, Ibrahim, was a trained operative, according to the statement, who had performed ``terrorist reconnaissance against local establishments'' in Singapore. He was arrested in April.

The government imposed restrictions on the movements of another man, Muhamad Yassin Khan bin Muhamad Yunos, who allegedly ``encouraged Abdul Basheer's `militant jihad' aspirations.''

The statement also said the government released five other men who ``no longer pose a security threat.'' Four had been in custody since September 2002, Mohamed Noor bin Sulaimi, Naharudin bin Sabtu, Nordin bin Parman and Syed Ibrahim. The fifth man, Mohamed Yassin O.P. Mohamed Nooh had been held since February.

Singapore has 34 people in detention for alleged terrorist activities, the Straits Times reported. Singapore's Internal Security Act allows for indefinite detention without trial.

To contact the reporter on this story: Simeon Bennett in Singapore at sbennett9@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 9, 2007 03:22 EDT