Iraqi rivals discuss reconciliation

Some 30 delegates representing Shias, Sunnis, Kurds and other smaller minorities are participating in the discussions sponsored by the Cairo-based Arab League. Insurgents are not represented at the talks, which are intended to prepare for a national reconciliation conference in Baghdad next month.

The discussions in Cairo opened as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was set to meet President Bush at the White House. The two leaders are expected to discuss plans to bring more US troops to Baghdad following the apparent failure of a six-week-old plan to beef up security in the Iraqi capital.

The Baghdad area recorded an average of 34 major bombings and shootings for the week ending July 13, the US military said. That was up 40 percent from the daily average of 24 registered between June 14 and July 13.

US officials believe control of Baghdad the political, cultural, transport and economic hub of the country will determine the future of Iraq. But the city's religiously mixed communities have become the focus of sectarian violence.

Iraq's army and police, which are heavily Shia, have had trouble winning the trust of residents of majority Sunni neighbourhoods. Al-Maliki's plans for curfews and other measures have had no lasting effect.

At least 2,567 members of the US military have died since the war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Arab League Undersecretary-General Ahmed Ben Heli said the three-day discussions were designed to work out an agenda for the August meeting, which he said should include loyalists to former President Saddam Hussein.