BAGHDAD (AP) -- The Iraqi prime minister held talks with a radicalShiite group he once tried to destroy in bloody street battles, bothsides said Wednesday, showing his willingness to put aside animositieswith some of his fiercest enemies to ensure a second term in officeafter a divisive election.
Nouri al-Maliki's outreach to a powerful faction within theIranian-backed Iraqi National Alliance could also lead to the recreationof the wide-ranging Shiite alliance that dominated Iraq's politics for alengthy stretch after the ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Final results from the March 7 parliamentary election are expected tobe released Friday, but no single group is likely to dominate the325-member assembly, meaning a governing alliance will have to beforged.
In a sign of the maneuvering, al-Maliki made a public show Wednesdayof meeting with President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, in an attempt to wooKurdish supporters to his side.
And late in the evening, members of the Iraqi National Alliance held anews conference to discuss their own talks with al-Maliki's mainchallenger, the Iraqiya coalition of Sunnis and Shiites led by formerPrime Minister Ayad Allawi -- a clear signal that in Iraq's rapidlymoving political scene few alliances are off the table.
On Tuesday night, the prime minister met with two representatives ofthe radical Shiite group led by anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
While it is too soon to say whether those talks will lead to a moreconcrete alliance, both al-Maliki and the Sadrists would have somethingto gain. The overture may be an attempt to show Allawi that he cannothope for Sadrist support in his own efforts to regain the premiership.
The Sadrists, who have gone from fighting U.S. troops on the streetsto a powerful political organization, could turn their streetcredentials into government power.
The Sadrists are widely thought to have the largest number of seatsin the Iraqi National Alliance, and many analysts question whether theSadrists might break off from the INA. Al-Maliki has also reached out tothe other main party in the Shiite alliance, the Supreme Islamic IraqiCouncil.
Ali al-Adeeb, a candidate on al-Maliki's State of Law list, and asenior Sadrist official, Karrar al-Khafaji, both confirmed Tuesday'smeeting. Al-Khafaji said the negotiations with al-Maliki were "positive"and that the two sides have "common ties."
Al-Khafaji said "no details, just general guidelines" were discussedTuesday. He added that one of the "most difficult" issues in the talkswas the post of the future prime minister.
Al-Maliki is unpalatable to many Sadrists because of his crackdown ontheir militiamen in the southern city of Basra and in their easternBaghdad stronghold. Al-Maliki has also refused to release al-Sadr'sfollowers held in Iraqi jails.
A Sadrist official in the holy city of Najaf, speaking on conditionof anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, playeddown Tuesday's talks, saying nothing has been achieved and thatSadrists were still firmly opposed to al-Maliki continuing as primeminister.
Whoever gets the top job will oversee Iraq as U.S. forces go home andhelp determine whether the country can overcome its sectariandivisions.
With 95 percent of the votes counted so far, al-Maliki and hissupporters are in a dead heat with a coalition led by Allawi, a secularShiite who has attracted a strong following among Iraq's Sunni communityfor his anti-Iran rhetoric.
Talks on forming a governing coalition could drag on. The lastgovernment took nearly six months to form.
The Kurds, who control their autonomous region in the north, willplay a key role in forming the government. Al-Maliki's meeting Wednesdaywith Talabani appeared to be a public display for local reporters inwhich the two men highlighted their past history but said little ofsubstance and took no questions.
Both leaders said they had discussed efforts to bring about a newgovernment.
"We are old allies that have fought together against dictatorship inorder to establish the democratic, federal and independent Iraq,"Talabani said. "God willing, our efforts will continue to form a newcoalition government."
A tie-up between al-Maliki's list, the Kurds and the Sadrists couldprove to be a winning combination, giving Maliki nearly enough seats toform a government, said Michael Hanna, an Iraq analyst with the CenturyFoundation.
"If Maliki's able to cut a deal with the Sadrists, that's a bigdeal," Hanna said, adding that there are still significant hurdles toovercome.
Scattered violence killed at least 10 people across Iraq Wednesday.In Baghdad, gunmen killed five Iraqi soldiers in a drive-by shooting on acheckpoint in a Sunni suburb near the airport.
In the western city of Hit, a suicide bomber targeting a policecolonel killed the colonel's brother and two workers helping rebuild theofficer's home after it had been targeted by another suicide bomberover a month ago, a police official said.
A police officer in Baqouba was killed trying to dismantle a bomb,and one person was killed in the northern city of Mosul by a grenadethat targeted a police patrol, officials said.