A militant convicted of masterminding the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people has released an autobiography entitled I Fight Terrorists but only to a limited audience, Indonesian media has reported.

Firebrand Imam Samudra, who is now on death row, wrote the 280-page book while in detention, the Indo Pos daily newspaper reported.

It carried a picture of the book's cover, which features Samudra in a white Muslim cap and shirt below the title.

Only very few copies can be found and a public launch of the book is not expected until next month, the newspaper added.

It quoted Samudra as saying he was not worried about revealing personal stories that include his life experiences, views on Islam and computer hacking expertise because "the United States and its allies have already known my childhood and past, anyway".

When Samudra was sentenced to death last year he was unrepentant and denounced the United States and Australia.

He is being detained in a prison in Bali, a predominantly Hindu island in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Samudra said the bombings of two nightclubs along Bali's famous Kuta Beach were plotted as a reprisal for US policies in Afghanistan and the Middle East.

The tragedy was the deadliest militant attack since the September 11, 2001 strikes on American cities.

Most of those killed were foreign tourists, with Australia suffering the biggest loss of 88 deaths.

Samudra, a radical Muslim and a computer buff, was charged with plotting, organising and carrying out premeditated terror crimes causing mass casualties.

Investigators say he learned to make bombs in Afghanistan.

Samudra has also been convicted of involvement in church bombings on Batam island near Singapore in 2000 and in a robbery that helped fund the Bali plot.

- -<strong>Reuters</strong>