Rebel groups willing to talk

BAGHDAD, Iraq – A Sunni Arab politician said Tuesday two insurgent groups were willing to negotiate with the government, possibly opening a new political front in embattled Iraq. But a string of coordinated deadly bombings signaled that militants remain fierce.

The former Cabinet minister said he had established contact with the groups, which account for a large part of the Sunni insurgents and were responsible for attacks against Iraqis and foreigners, including assassinations and kidnappings.

It was the first public disclosure that such negotiations might be in the offing with specific groups, but independent confirmation was not possible. Al-Jaafari’s government declined comment.

At least 32 lives were claimed in the day’s violence, which included four explosions within seven minutes in and around Hawija, 40 miles southwest of Kirkuk, and the killings of a Sunni cleric and a foreign ministry employee. The fatalities pushed the death toll to 879 in the 51/2 weeks since the government was formed.

Former electricity minister Ayham al-Samarie told the Associated Press that the Islamic Army in Iraq and the Army of Mujahedeen – or holy warriors – were ready to open talks with the Shiite-led government aimed at eventually joining the political process.

The claim appears consistent with comments from a senior Shiite legislator, Hummam Hammoudi, who told the AP last week the government had opened indirect channels of communication with some insurgent groups.

The contacts were “becoming more promising, and they give us reason to continue,” Hammoudi said without providing details.

Al-Samarie, an Illinois Institute of Technology graduate who holds dual U.S. and Iraqi citizenship, said the two groups represent more than 50 percent of the “resistance.” He excluded the al Qaeda in Iraq group which has carried out some of the bloodiest attacks and is headed by a non-Iraqi, Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

U.S. military officials believe about 12,000 to 20,000 fighters, including supporters, make up the insurgency.

Al-Samarie said he began contacting insurgent political leaders about five months ago. He did not meet any field commanders, he said, but would not name those he contacted or say who else joined in the meetings.

He said he told the insurgent leaders they had to “come out to the political arena.”

“We told them that ‘no one knows what you want,’ ” he said, speaking in his home in an upscale Baghdad neighborhood. ” ‘You say you want the occupier to leave Iraq but what do you want after that? You must have a political agenda.’ “

The insurgent leaders agreed “that the time has come for them to come out,” al-Samarie said.

The Islamic Army in Iraq is a significant insurgent group that has claimed responsibility for attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces as recently as in the last two weeks.

The group, most active in Baghdad and the region directly to the south, generally avoids bombings. Besides attacks against U.S. forces, it has claimed responsibility for assassinations of Iraqi government officials and the killings of an Italian journalist and Pakistani contractors. It released two French journalists in December 2004 after holding them for 124 days.

It claims thousands in its ranks and says its members are predominantly Iraqi. According to insurgent statements, the group has at times collaborated with the al Qaeda in Iraq network of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and the Ansar al-Sunnah Army.

Less is known about the Mujahedeen Army, but it has claimed responsibility for scores of attacks, including the April downing of a helicopter carrying 11 civilians, among them six Americans, and the kidnapping of Indonesian journalists who were released unharmed in February.

In Hawija, the first explosion, caused by a roadside bomb, killed no one. But the next three killed 18, with the deadliest coming at a checkpoint in Dibis, on Hawija’s outskirts, which killed 10. At least 39 people were wounded.

“I was standing some distance from the checkpoint when I heard a big explosion and I was thrown onto the ground,” Lt. Sadiq Mohammed, 26, whose right leg was wounded, said from his hospital bed.

Near the Syrian border, an American-backed military operation zeroed in on insurgents in Tal Afar, sending tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles to patrol the narrow streets under the cover of helicopters, witnesses said. About 20 suspected insurgents were captured, Tal Afar police Capt. Amjad Hashim said.

Two U.S. Marines also died Monday after separate roadside bombings near Fallujah, the military said Tuesday. A U.S. soldier died of noncombat injuries near Baghdad International Airport.

Today, the military said three U.S. soldiers had died in two attacks. Two 42nd Infantry Division Soldiers were killed in an indirect fire attack on their base in Tikrit late Tuesday, and a roadside bomb exploded near another U.S. vehicle north of Baghdad, officials said.