NEW YORK, Jan 8: The United States is now holding 325 foreign fighters in Iraq, some of whom could be transferred out of the country for indefinite detention elsewhere, the New York Times reported on Saturday.

The number of non-Iraqi combatants captured in Iraq increased by 140 in the last two months, a Pentagon official told the daily. Many were captured in or around Fallujah, the official said.

Like Taliban and Al Qaeda prisoners, foreign fighters captured in Iraq are not protected by the Geneva Conventions, in the US administration's view.

Many are suspected of links to Al-Qaeda and some could be transferred out of Iraq for detention elsewhere, a Bush administration official said.

But administration officials are currently struggling to come up with a long-term plan for hundreds of prisoners already detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and in Afghanistan, the Times said.

The administration has claimed the authority to detain such prisoners indefinitely and without trial as "unlawful combatants" - but is faced with questions as to when the "war on terror" might end, making it safe for them to be released.

The Pentagon is finishing up a proposal to construct a second permanent prison at Guantanamo to hold about 200 suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban members, the Times said.

A senior US official told the Times that the majority of the 550 prisoners at Guantanamo no longer have intelligence value and are no longer being regularly interrogated. But no end to their detention is in sight.

"You're basically keeping them off the battlefield and unfortunately in the war on terror, the battlefield is everywhere," a senior administration official told the Times. -AFP