BRASILIA - Recent attacks in Iraq show that extremist groups are weakening, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani told the daily Folha de Sao Paulo in an interview published Thursday.
"The wave of violence is a sign of the terrorists' weakness. The only recourse they have left are car bombs. They have lost control of various cities and have been surrounded. But it is not easy to avoid a suicide attack," said Talabani, who attended the first-ever Arab-South American summit here this week.
Talabani also urged his Arab colleagues to encourage media outlets in their countries not to portray the attackers as "heroes."
"In Brasilia, I made an appeal to the Arab media, which are indirectly supporting terrorism. Those (extremist) groups, which kill civilians, innocent people, are portrayed as heroes of the resistance movement in the Arab media, and this just fuels the fire," he said.
He added that in Iraq, there are "two kinds of terrorism."
One "comes from outside, such as Al-Qaeda and other groups which are opposed to democracy (or which) support an Islamic state."
"And then there are the Iraqi terrorists, who think they are fighting against the Americans, when in reality they are killing innocent Iraqis," he said.
Talabani has been battling increased violence in Iraq since coming to power, with nearly 500 people killed.
05/12/2005 20:01 GMT