KOTA BARU - Malaysian police have detained six men for alleged involvement in bomb-making during separate raids in Pasir Mas on Sunday (Jan 15).

The suspects, in their 30s and 40s, were picked up at their homes in a series of raids which began about 4am, Bernama news agency reported.

Kelantan police chief Datuk Dr Ab Rahman Ismail said the police found several items, including wires and batteries believed to be components to make bombs.

"We do not rule out the possibility the suspects were linked to the Daesh militant group," he told reporters at the state police contingent headquarters, using the Arabic acronym to describe the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Anti-terrorism chief Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay told The Star newspaper earlier that the number of Malaysians nabbed for trying to join ISIS has shown an "alarming" trend, rising every year in the last four years.

In 2013, there were only four arrested for trying to join the militant group. This rose to 59 in 2014 and 85 in 2015. The number "spiked drastically" to 119 last year, he told The Star .