Iraqi government welcomes dialogue with gunmen

The advisor for the national security for the Iraqi president Wafiq al-Samera' said that many of the armed Iraqi groups contacted during the few past days the office of President Jalal al-Talibani who had announced last week in Cairo readiness to hold talks with these groups.

Al-Samera' said that some of these groups expressed readiness to drop their weapons and join the political process in Iraq, but he did not explain whether there groups are Islamists, or Baathists.

Meantime, news reports said that Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi deputy premier, held for two weeks talks with members of certain armed groups in the Iraqi Anbar area.