KABUL, Afghanistan — Al Qaeda militants are coming from Iraq to fight in the insurgency in Afghanistan, a provincial governor said yesterday after interrogating an Iraqi caught sneaking into the country.
In another development, police said a suicide bomber disguised as a woman blew himself up at an army checkpoint in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing five Afghans, including three soldiers.
“There is a big group coming from Iraq,” Nimroz provincial Gov. Ghulam Dusthaqir Azad said. “They’re linked to al Qaeda and fought against U.S. forces in Iraq. They have been ordered to come here. Many are suicide attackers.”
It was not immediately possible to confirm the governor’s comments with officials in Kabul. A spokesman for the U.S. military, Lt. Mike Cody, said, “We don’t discuss detainees or intelligence matters.”
Mr. Azad made the comments in a satellite telephone interview from his office in the remote desert city of Zaranj after he questioned the Iraqi, who was identified as 35-year-old Numan din Majid from Diyala province, west of Baghdad.
Majid was arrested Monday, in Zaranj, along with three Pakistanis, two of whom were thought to be militants from Kashmir, Mr. Azad said. They were all thought to have crossed into Afghanistan from Iran.
Also, five Bangladeshis were arrested in the city Tuesday and were thought to have links to the Taliban, Mr. Majid said.
Majid was carrying in his pockets an Iraqi ID card and a photograph of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Mr. Azad said.
“He confessed he took part in the war in Iraq against the Americans,” the governor said.
He said the capture came two months after another Arab of unspecified nationality was caught sneaking across the border from Iran. He said that during questioning, the man claimed he was part of a group of 17 militants traveling individually from Iraq to Afghanistan.
“We handed him over to the anti-terrorism department, and they have made several arrests based on information from him,” Mr. Azad said.
An upsurge in suicide attacks in recent months, previously rare in Afghanistan, has fueled suspicion that militants here could be copying tactics of insurgents in Iraq, but U.S. officials have said they don’t have evidence of direct links between the insurgencies.
Wednesday’s blast occurred in eastern Khost province as Afghan soldiers were checking the assailant’s vehicle, said Mohammed Ayub, the regional police chief. The attacker, detonated explosives hidden under a woman’s burqa when soldiers asked to see his ID, he said.
Three Afghan soldiers, the driver of the vehicle and a farmer working nearby were killed, Mr. Ayub said. Three soldiers and a second farmer were wounded.
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