BAGHDAD – Al-Qaida is rebuilding in Iraq and has set up training camps for insurgents in the nation’s western deserts as the extremist group seizes on regional instability and government security failures to regain strength, officials said.

Iraq has seen a jump in al-Qaida attacks over the past 10 weeks, and officials believe most of the fighters are former prisoners who have either escaped from jail or were released by Iraqi authorities for lack of evidence after the U.S. military withdrawal last December.

Many are said to be Saudi or from Sunni-dominated Gulf states.