Berlusconi And Blair Call For Political Solution To Iraq Fighting

ROME, Aug 17 (AFP) - Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his British counterpart Tony Blair have called on the new Iraqi government to reach a political solution to the violence in the country, a government spokesman said Tuesday.
Both leaders were expected to issue a joint statement later Tuesday from Berlusconi's holiday mansion on the island of Sardinia, the government spokesman told AFP.
The statement will call for a cessation of violence in the country, urging the new Iraqi government to make every effort to find a solution to the violence, "preferably one which does not have a recourse to arms", according to the spokesman.
Supporters of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr are locked in a days-long stand off with US-led Iraqi forces in the holy city of Najaf, and there are daily attacks on Iraqi and US forces around the country.
Blair and his wife Cherie are spending two days as Berlusconi's guest at his luxurious Villa Certosa residence on the island.
Earlier Tuesday, Berlusconi condemned an attack by Iraqi insurgents on Italian forces in the southern town of Nasiriyah which wounded three Italian soldiers.