A Malaysian who once was with the late Osama bin Laden's band of warriors in Afghanistan and is on the FBI's list of "most wanted terrorists" is reportedly now hiding in Mindanao in the southern Philippines.

Zulkifli Abd Khir, a 45-year-old father of four, reportedly is holed up with the Abu Sayyaf and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Mindanao, hiding from authorities in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Said to have played a role in the 2002 Bali bombing, Zulkifli carries a US$5 million bounty on his head from the FBI for his involvement in a number of terror activities in the three Southeast Asian countries.

Zulkifli is the head of Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KKM) which he founded in the early 1990s, and a member of Jemaah Islamiyah's (JI) central command, according to reports in the Malaysian media.

Earning his spurs as a ward of JI bomb expert Dr Azahari Hussin, a Malaysian who was killed by an Indonesian anti-terrorism unit in late 2005, Zulkifli, described also as an engineering wizard who is said to have a penchant for explosives, later led a KKM group that robbed a bank in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.

He was also the suspect in the 2000 killing of an assemblyman and the bombing of a Hindu temple in Pudu, Kuala Lumpur.

Following the announcement of a reward of RM50,000 (around US$16,700) for his arrest, Zulkifli fled to Indonesia where he became involved in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people, many of them Australian tourists.

The reports were not clear when he moved to the Philippines, where his record includes attacks on US interests and military bases there, as well as the August 2006 killing of two police officers who were trying to approach his hideout in a Manila suburb.

Zulkifli is said to speak fluent English, Arabic, and Tagalog.