About 120 anti-terror police and troops combed villages in Mojokerto district on Tuesday and Wednesday after residents complained of suspected activity by several men in the hills.

"We haven't found anyone. If they are indeed people we are looking for, they certainly have the ability to elude us," said national police spokesman Paulus Purwoko.

He said villagers who traveled to the mountain had told police they often encountered several men asking for food. One looked like Malaysian-born fugitive terror suspect Noordin Top and spoke in a Malay accent, Purwoko said.

"We must not ignore this kind of information. With this operation we may be able to flush them out of their hiding," he said.

Top is believed to be one of the masterminds of some of the deadliest militant attacks in Indonesia in recent years, including last year's Bali bombings that killed 20 people.

Analysts say Top was a key leader of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah militant Islamic network, but may have split to form a more radical group.

Jemaah Islamiah has been blamed for a number of bombings in Indonesia, including the October 2002 Bali attacks that killed 202 people.

Top's alleged accomplice and master bomb-maker, Azahari Husin, died last year in a shootout with anti-terror police in his East Java hideout.