"Reveal yourself," Iraq's Speaker urges insurgents

BAGHDAD, Dec 12 (Reuters) Iraq's Sunni Muslim parliament speaker today urged insurgents to come out into the open to help break a deadly cycle of tit-for-tat sectarian violence that has killed thousands.

''If you are Iraqis then give us an ideal way of contacting you, because all of this can be solved very easily,'' Mahmoud al-Mashhadani said after condemning Tuesday's suicide bombing targeting Shi'ite workers in Baghdad that killed 60 people.

''What do you want?'' he asked.

The US military accuses Sunni insurgent groups like al Qaeda of fuelling sectarian violence by launching attacks similar to Tuesday's bombing that spark reprisals by Shi'ite militias.

Most Iraqi insurgent groups have not revealed the names of their leaders or their political agendas since taking up arms following the US-led invasion in 2003.

But there is believed to be a loose alliance of Sunni Islamist militants, a number of them foreign fighters, Saddam Hussein supporters and other Iraqi nationalists.

''We have begun to suspect you are mercenaries who are controlled by (money),'' Mashhadani said. If you wanted us to respect you as an honourable resistance then reveal your agenda and come forward so we can find a solution,'' he said.

Mashhadani is considered a moderate politician who is often criticised by his own Sunni bloc for speaking out against the Sunni hardliners in parliament.

The Iraq Study Group, a US bipartisan panel that has made a series of recommendations for Washington to change its strategy in the region, says more needs to be done to find out who is doing the fighting in Iraq.

''Our government still does not understand very well either the insurgency in Iraq or the role of the militias,'' it said.

REUTERS PDM RN2157