Is the fight moving to Afghanistan?

Will this push NATO into committing more troops?

Al-Qa'eda militants are moving from Iraq to Afghanistan to fight with the Taliban, officials said yesterday after the capture of several suspected foreign guerrillas.

Authorities in Nimroz province reported the arrest of four men, three Kashmiri Pakistanis and an Iraqi, in an ominous escalation of the threat to Nato forces.

The province borders Helmand where as many as 5,500 British troops will be deployed later in the year.

Now its governor has claimed that the Iraqi has admitted to being part of a group of fighters linked to al-Qa'eda and despatched from Iraq to fight western forces in Afghanistan.

If true, the disclosure would show how al-Qa'eda was fomenting unrest in the country its leadership was forced to flee after the September 2001 attacks.

There have been many previous claims by the government and US-led forces that Pakistani groups were involved in terrorism in Afghanistan. But links to Iraq have not been proven.

"There is a big group coming from Iraq," said the Nimroz governor, Ghulam Dusthaqir Azad.

"They're linked to al-Qa'eda and fought against US forces in Iraq. They have been ordered to come here. Many are suicide bombers."