Malaysia is considering deploying underwater vehicles as authorities prepare for a long-term search effort for missing flight MH370, an official said Thursday.

Deputy defense minister Abdul Rahim Bakri said national oil company Petronas would provide two autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to help search for the Malaysia Airline Boeing 777-200, which disappeared without a trace.

Malaysia Airlines said one of its planes was grounded Thursday after a service vehicle struck the aircraft's belly, the latest incident to dent the carrier's image after the disappearance of flight MH370.

The airline said the passengers on the Myanmar-bound plane were put on a later flight while a "thorough check" was being conducted on the Boeing 737-800.

Malaysian police have foiled a plot to attack foreign missions in two Indian cities and arrested a South Asian terror suspect, a senior security official said Thursday.

The arrest comes just days after police launched an investigation into whether Al-Qaida-linked Somali rebels were seeking to set up a base in the Southeast Asian country after a suspected insurgent was arrested.

The lack of any evidence indicating what caused flight MH370's disappearance raises a legal conundrum that is expected to force Malaysia Airlines into out-of-court settlements with angry next-of-kin, aviation law experts said.

More than two months since MH370 disappeared, no wreckage has been found to even confirm a crash, let alone apportion blame.

A mini-sub hunting for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 will be back in the search zone within days, an official said Saturday, as the Australian ship carrying the device prepared to leave on the mission.

Australian vessel Ocean Shield is carrying the U.S. Navy Bluefin-21 mini-sub which had been scouring the seabed for the plane which disappeared on March 8 carrying 239 people until it docked to resupply early this week. 

Malaysian police are investigating whether al-Qaida linked Somali rebels were seeking to set up a base in the Southeast Asian country after a suspected insurgent was arrested, a source with knowledge of the investigation said Friday.

Police said on Thursday they detained a 34-year-old Somali man in Kuala Lumpur who was wanted by Interpol for alleged links to Shebab rebels blamed for a string of violent attacks in East Africa.

A Chinese national has been seized in Malaysia's Borneo island by Filipino gunmen, a security official said Tuesday in the wake of tension between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing over missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

Mohammad Mentek, director-general of security in the east of Malaysia's Sabah state, identified the victim as 34-year-old Yang Zai Lin, who worked as a manager at a fish farm.

Officials Monday said it could be up to two months before new, more sophisticated equipment will be in the water to help the search for flight MH370 across what will be largely unmapped ocean floor.

The hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared on March 8 carrying 239 people was scaled back last week after coming up with nothing, despite an air and sea search of 4.64 million square kilometers of the southern Indian Ocean.

Malaysian police have arrested an 11th suspect in an operation to break up Islamic terror groups posing as humanitarian organizations, an official said on Saturday.

Police arrested 10 Malaysians earlier in the week during raids in and around the capital Kuala Lumpur and the northern state of Kedah before a man attempting to flee the country was detained on Thursday, said a Home Ministry official.

Malaysia on Friday officially opened a new airport built specifically for the fast-growing budget-travel sector, but with the country's aviation industry under deep scrutiny over the loss of missing flight MH370.

The much-delayed new facility near the main Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) officially commenced operations at 12:05 am (1605 GMT) when a flight by Malaysia-based Malindo Air touched down.