The news magazine cited a senior US official as saying small groups of Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah agents have infiltrated Iraq.

"We've got people paying attention to both approaches, from Syria and Jordan" the official, who was not named, told the weekly.

A main concern once Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is ousted is the presence of radicals "who may owe their allegiance to neighboring regimes that have their own agenda," Time said.

The fear is that those radicals could incite suicide bombings against US troops.

SPACE.WIRE