Philippine security forces arrested Friday four minor children of a wanted Indonesian Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militant in the south, a marine spokesman said.

Lieutenant Colonel Ariel Caculitan said the children of JI militant Dulmatin, ages two to nine, were seized during a raid on an alleged safe house of Islamic militants on the island town of Simunul in Tawi-Tawi province, some 1,125 km south of Manila.

The raiding team also arrested two caretakers of the alleged safe house and seized one assault rifle.

Caculitan said troops are still on a mission to determine whether Dulmatin was in the area. Dulmatin and fellow JI militant Omar Patek have been targeted by military operations since August last year. The two were suspected to have played a key role in the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed more than 200 people.

Caculitan said Dulmatin's children, considered illegal aliens, would be turned over to the Bureau of Immigration for proper disposition. Last year, the immigration bureau deported Dulmatin's wife, Istiada Oemar Sovie, and two of their six children after they were caught by government troops in a village in Patikul town on Jolo.

Istiada told military investigators that her husband and several JI militants were living with Muslim Abu Sayyaf rebels on Jolo.