US secretly meets with Iraqi insurgents

The commanders "apparently came face to face" with four Ameri-can officials during meetings on June 3 and June 13 at a summer villa near Balad, about 25 miles north of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, according to The Sunday Times.

The Sunday Times said neither the Iraqi government nor US officials in Baghdad would confirm its report about the talks.

Military officials in Baghdad did not immediately respond to a request by The Associated Press for comment on the Times article early Sunday morning.

The story, which quoted unidentified Iraqis whose groups were purportedly involved in the talks, said those at the first meeting included Ansar al-Sunnah Army, which has claimed responsibility for suicide bombings in Iraq and an attack that killed 22 people in the dining hall of a US base at Mosul last Christmas.

Two others were Jaish Moham-med, or Mohammed's Army, and the Islamic Army in Iraq, which in August reportedly killed Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni, the newspaper said.

One of the Americans at the talks introduced himself as a Pentagon representative and declared himself ready to "find ways of stopping the bloodshed on both sides and to listen to demands and grievances," The Sunday Times said.

It said the official indicated that the results of the talks would be relayed to his superiors in Washi-ngton.

The US officials tried to gather information about the structure, leadership and operations of the insurgent groups, which irritated some members, who had been told the talks would consider their main demand, a timetable for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, the report said.

The newspaper report follows accounts of indirect talks with the insurgents using Iraqi intermediaries.

A senior US official said earlier this month that American authorities have negotiated with key Sunni leaders, who are in turn talking with insurgents and trying to persuade them to lay down their arms. The official, who did not give his name so as not to undercut the new government's authority, did not name the Sunni leaders engaged in dialogue.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi court charged with trying ousted leader Saddam Hussein and his top aides on Sunday released footage of six of his lieutenants being interrogated about alleged crimes against Kurds.

Among those questioned a week ago were two of Saddam's half-brothers Barzan and Watban Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti as well as the commander of the former paramilitary Quds Army, Iyad Futaih Khalifa, a statement from the Iraqi Special Tribunal said.