MANILA, Philippines?An Islamic extremist?more moneyed and ideologically inclined?has become the leader of a key faction of the Abu Sayyaf, an al-Qaida-linked extremist group in Mindanao.

A Philippine military report obtained by The Associated Press Sunday says the militant, Khair Mundus, has connections to funding donors from Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. It also says that Mundus, who is on Washington?s terrorist list, has a stronger ideological bent and has begun giving Islamic religious training to Abu Sayyaf fighters.

Materials recovered by government troopers who overran an Abu Sayyaf camp in Sumisip, Basilan, on Thursday also revealed the group?s enhanced bomb-making capabilities.

There were bunkers enough to accommodate 100 people in what looked like a bomb-making training camp, military officials told reporters Sunday in Isabela City.

It means the group ?more or less, has a high level of capacity and that we have to be very, very watchful,? Rear Admiral Alexander Pama, commander of the Naval Forces South Command said.

The United States last year offered $500,000 for information leading to the capture or killing of Mundus, who was arrested by Philippine authorities in 2004 but escaped from a local jail in 2007.

While in police custody, Mundus confessed to having arranged the transfer of al-Qaida funds to an Abu Sayyaf chief to finance bombings and other attacks, according to the US state department.

Information from a Sri Lankan peace worker who was kidnapped then freed by the Abu Sayyaf last year also showed Mundus had emerged as the leader of the Basilan-based faction of the group, according to the military report.

Abu Sayyaf is trying to bring its militants back to a religious mooring, but its fighters will still resort to acts of banditry, like kidnappings, ?to fuel large and high impact terrorist activities,? the report says.

The report also says Mundus?s deputy is Puruji Indama, a young and brutal commander blamed for the beheading of 10 Marines in 2007, an attack that prompted President Macapagal-Arroyo to order a major offensive against the terrorists. Indama has also been linked to several kidnappings in Basilan.

The military report says Mundus has connections to Saudi Arabian and Malaysian donors and arranged funds to be transferred to Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani from 2001 to 2003 through Philippine banks under false names, the report said. Janjalani was killed by Filipino troops on Jolo in 2006.

Last year, Mundus provided religious training to Indama and other Abu Sayyaf members on Basilan while a Jolo-based terrorist identified as Emran taught them how to make bombs, the report says.