Leader says he has met with insurgents

At least 12 people were killed Sunday in attacks across the country.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- President Jalal Talabani met with representatives of seven armed groups and is optimistic they may agree to lay down their weapons, his office said Sunday. It was the first time a senior Iraqi official has acknowledged talks with insurgents.
However, Talabani did not identify the groups or specify when and where the meeting took place. The spokesman of one major insurgent group, the Islamic Army in Iraq, said his organization had not taken part in such a meeting.
Last year Talabani offered to talk with insurgents but it was unclear if any took up the offer. U.S. officials have acknowledged meeting Iraqis who had ties to Sunni Arab insurgents but not with representatives of those groups.
American diplomats have also cautioned that any such dialogue could take a long time to end the fighting because of divisions within insurgent ranks, which include Islamic extremists such as al-Qaida in Iraq who show no sign of wanting to end their jihad, or holy war, against the Americans and their Iraqi partners.
Uncertainties
It was also unclear whether the seven groups represented a substantial portion of the insurgency. Talabani also did not say whether the insurgents presented their own demands.
"I believe that a deal can be reached with the seven armed groups that visited me," Talabani was quoted as saying.
Sunday attacks
Meanwhile, at least 12 people, including two children, were killed Sunday in bombings and drive-by shootings across the country, and the bodies of seven others, all males, were found in three separate areas of Baghdad, police said. The bodies were bound and showed signs of torture but it was unclear when they died, police said.
The deadliest bombing occurred on a highway south of Baghdad, killing three foreign security contractors and wounding two, including one Briton. Nationalities of the others were unclear.
Two children were killed when insurgents fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a U.S. position in Ramadai, 70 miles west of Baghdad, American forces said. There were no American casualties.
One policeman was killed and two were wounded when a car containing a corpse exploded south of Baghdad, police said.
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