SINGAPORE, Feb 28, 2008 (AFP) - An intense manhunt was under way Thursday for the alleged leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah militant network in Singapore following his escape from custody.

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Mas Selamat bin Kastari, who was accused of planning to hijack a plane and crash it into Changi Airport in Singapore, escaped from a detention centre on Wednesday, the home affairs ministry said.

Analysts said he would try to flee to Indonesia.

"We confirm that he has not been captured as yet," a spokeswoman told AFP. The ministry said Kastari walks with a limp and was not known to be armed.

Dozens of soldiers and police from the Special Operations Command were stationed every few metres along roads near the facility in an upscale area of the city-state.

Paramilitary Nepalese Gurkhas from a special Singapore Police contingent also patrolled the area, an AFP reporter at the scene said, while officers stopped and checked cars at a roadblock.

The government apologised for Kastari's escape from the Whitley Road facility, which holds prisoners detained by the Internal Security Department.

"This should never have happened. I'm sorry that it has," Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng told parliament.

Wong said Kastari had been taken from his cell to the family visit room to await his family.

"He asked to go to the toilet, where he escaped," he said.

Despite its compact size and high population density, Singapore has thickly forested nature reserves and water catchment areas that can provide escape routes and hiding places for a fugitive.

Businesses, offices and schools operated normally despite the massive security presence in the area.

"In the morning the principal told us to keep calm and vigilant," said a student from a secondary school, who gave his name only as Darryl.

Wong said security has been tightened at all air, sea and land checkpoints and no effort will be spared to locate the fugitive.

The Straits Times reported that plainclothes officers were checking closed-circuit television footage from shops and petrol stations for clues.

Kastari, born in 1961, was arrested on the Indonesian island of Bintan near Singapore in 2003 and sentenced by an Indonesian court to 18 months in jail.

He was later released but was arrested by Indonesian authorities in East Java in January 2006 before being handed over to Singapore.

Kastari had fled the city-state in December 2001 following an Internal Security Department operation against JI, Singapore's home affairs ministry has said.

Singapore authorities arrested 15 people in December 2001 -- 13 of whom were alleged JI members -- who were allegedly planning to attack a bus carrying Americans to a subway station.

Singapore, a staunch US ally, has said it is a top target for extremists and has taken elaborate security measures to prevent an attack. Warnings for people to be vigilant are broadcast on the city's subway system.