Iraqi president: militants funded from abroad
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-09 20:07

AMMAN - Iraq's two-year insurgency led by al Qaeda's Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is being funded by supporters of a strict Saudi-based Muslim sect and some foreign countries, the Iraqi president said, without naming the states involved.

President Jalal Talabani told Reuters in an interview he believed Zarqawi had nevertheless been weakened and isolated and there was no fear of civil war in Iraq, which has suffered a spate of bombings designed to undermine its new government.

The veteran Kurdish leader, sworn in a month ago as the first non-Arab president of an Arab nation, said late on Sunday Zarqawi was backed by extremists across the region.

"They are getting aid from al Qaeda and from some financiers among some extremist Muslim organizations from Wahabi extremists abroad and from countries that I will not name," he said.

Talabani, who left Amman en route to an Arab-South American summit in Brazil, said Jordanian-born Zarqawi's capture could be close and the leadership of the group, which has claimed some of the deadliest bombings in Iraq, had been decimated.

"I think that Zarqawi appears isolated and hated by Iraqis and I would not rule out his capture any second, but I cannot guess where or when," he said.

Hundreds of members of Zarqawi's group have either been captured or killed by U.S. and Iraqi troops, he said, adding that recent Baghdad car bombings were a sign of desperation by the predominantly Sunni Muslim insurgency.

"These last acts in which car bombings have escalated are evidence of weakness. The overall number of terror attacks has fallen sharply," Talabani said, in contrast to U.S. military estimates that the guerrillas recently gained ground.

"They have been dealt a severe blow and weakened a lot and you can say they have been isolated by people who are angry with their crimes," Talabani said.

DEADLY ATTACKS

He ruled out civil war driven by rising communal tensions between Shi'ites and Sunnis and a wave of sectarian killings.

"The Zarqawi group is trying to sow dissension and civil war but they will not succeed. I don't fear civil war in Iraq."

Since Iraq's political factions unveiled a new -- though incomplete -- cabinet last week, guerrillas have mounted a wave of deadly attacks, killing more than 300 people.

But Talabani said insurgents had lost key strongholds such as Falluja, where a U.S. led military offensive last November killed or captured scores of guerrillas.

"They controlled Falluja, Ramadi and they controlled Mosul and Samarra where are they now?" he asked.

"In key areas such as Mosul and Kirkuk we have almost liberated them from the terrorists."

Talabani denied that violence in Iraq was tied to alienation by Iraq's Sunni Arab minority -- dominant during the rule of Saddam Hussein but sidelined after the Jan. 30 elections.

Most Sunni Arabs stayed away from the polls due to calls for a boycott and fears of insurgent attacks. There are only 17 Sunni Arab lawmakers in the 275-member parliament.

Attempts by Shi'ite Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to co-opt the Sunnis politically could bring a bigger role for them in new elections by year-end, Talabani said, referring to planned provincial and parliamentary polls.

"They learned a good lesson," he said. "I believe they will participate in the next elections and if they do for sure they will have a large number of representatives."

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