ANKARA - Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari Friday said Baghdad will hold talks soon with Damascus to discuss measures against insurgents infiltrating into Iraq from Syrian territory.
"There are some armed groups infiltrating from Syria. We will talk about how much the Syrian government knows about these infiltrations," Jaafari told reporters here after talks with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
"There will be a visit to Syria soon and one of the dossiers will be security," he said through a translator.
The United States has repeatedly accused Syria of aiding the Iraqi insurgency by supplying foreign fighters or failing to prevent militants from crossing the border into Iraq.
Damascus categorically denies the charges.
Jaafari stressed that although Iraq seeks to establish friendly ties with all its neighbours, it will "never accept anything that harms its economy and security".
He said Baghdad would implement a number of measures, including border controls, monitoring insurgent groups and asking neighbouring countries to prevent infriltrations.
Jaafari also pledged that Iraq would not allow terrorist groups to use its territory for attacks on other countries.
"In line with the principle of good neighbourly relations, we will never allow any group to harm the security, economy and politics of a neighbour country," he said.
Turkey says some 5,000 Turkish Kurdish rebels have found shelter in northern Iraq and are infiltrating across the border into Turkey in growing numbers to commit acts of violence.
05/20/2005 10:57 GMT