KUALA LUMPUR, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian police said Friday that 20 suspects had been arrested for link to terror activities in recent operations.

The suspects, including Malaysians, Filipinos, Indonesians and one from northern Africa, were nabbed in a series of recent police counter terrorism operations across the country, national police chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun said in a statement.

Among the suspects is 24-year-old Indonesian man, believed to be a senior leader of the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah terror group, which has linkage to the Islamic State (IS), according to Mohamad Fuzi.

The man was involved in a July 2017 bombing in Bandung, Indonesia before entering Malaysia to escape arrest by the Indonesia authorities, Mohamad Fuzi said.

A 50-year-old Philippine man was arrested in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur for recruiting his fellow countrymen for the Abu Sayyaf Group.

Most of the suspects, including Malaysians, Indonesians and Filipinos, were arrested in the East Malaysian state of Sabah for trying to join the group in the nearby southern Philippines, according to the police chief.