MUNICH, Feb 13 (Reuters) - About 3,000 Islamic State detainees have so far been transferred from Syrian prisons to Iraq and the process is continuing, Iraq's foreign minister said on Friday, adding that Baghdad was in discussions with some countries to repatriate them soon.

Speaking in a wide-ranging interview with Reuters on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Fuad Hussein said Baghdad would need more financial assistance to deal with the influx, and warned that there had been a recent uptick in Islamic State activity in Syria.

He said that, while Baghdad took the United States' signals seriously, the nomination of former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki to take up the role again was an internal issue.

(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Kevin Liffey)