US, Iraqi insurgents in talks

2005-06-26 15:22

Washington - US secretary of defence Donald Rumsfeld confirmed on US television on Sunday that Pentagon officials had taken part in negotiations with Iraqi insurgents.

In answer to a question on Fox News television about a London Sunday Times report that US officials met with insurgents in a bid of split off the homegrown insurgents from foreign fighters, Rumsfeld said: "Sure, my goodness, yeah.

"The first thing you want to do is split people off and get some people to be supportive.

"The same thing's going on in Afghanistan," he said.

The Sunday Times reported that a US team, including senior military and intelligence officers, had held face-to-face talks with insurgent leaders, including representatives of the al-Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Sunna group.

A civilian staffer from congress and a representative of the US embassy in Baghdad also attended the two meetings on June 3 and 13, the paper reported, citing Iraqi sources.

The meetings took place at a villa in the Balad area, north of the capital, in the presence of a former Iraqi minister and senior tribal leaders, it said.

Excluded from the talks were representatives of Iraq's most wanted man, al-Qaeda frontman Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

But the Army of Asnar al-Sunna also has links with al-Qaeda and has claimed a string of suicide bombings, including one against the mess hall of a US base in Mosul last year that killed 22 people.

- AFP