Dubai. The Al-Qaeda network behind some of the deadliest insurgent attacks in Iraq is considering transferring its operations to other countries in the region, Iraq's interior minister said Sunday, AFP reports.

The feared Al-Qaeda group headed by Iraq's most wanted man Abu Musab al-Zarqawi "has started to consider leaving Iraq," Bayan Baqer Sulagh told the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television.

He said a letter written to Zarqawi by his Al-Qaeda number two Abu Azzam, who US and Iraqi forces said they killed in an operation last month, underlined the network's plans to move to neighbouring countries.

Commentary: