Iraqi insurgents to negotiate US withdrawal

Iraqi insurgents ally to negotiate US withdrawal

Damascus | July 20, 2007

Seven important Sunni-led insurgent groups fighting the US occupation in Iraq have agreed to form a public political alliance to prepare for negotiations in advance of a US withdrawal.

In their first interview with the Western media since the US-led invasion of 2003, leaders of three of the insurgent groups -- responsible for thousands of attacks against US and Iraqi armed forces and police -- said they would continue their armed resistance until all foreign troops were withdrawn from Iraq.

They also denounced al-Qaeda for sectarian killings and suicide bombings against civilians.

Speaking in Damascus, the spokesmen for the three groups -- the 1920 Revolution Brigades, Ansar al-Sunna and Iraqi Hamas -- said they planned to hold a congress to launch a united front and appealed to governments and the UN to help them establish a permanent political presence outside Iraq...

brisbanetimes