Talabani meets Islamic group leader in Baghdad

SULAIMANIYA / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, the leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), held a meeting in Baghdad on Saturday with Ali Bapir, the leader of the opposition Islamic Group in Kurdistan. A source close to Bapir said the IGK leader met with President Talabani in Baghdad to discuss current developments in the Iraqi Kurdistan region. The source did not give further information about the meeting. The IGK is an Islamist movement in Iraqi Kurdistan region. It practices the method of “Sunnah and Jamaa’h” and was established by Bapir in May 2001. Bapir is a former member of the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan. The group reportedly receives funding from Talabani’s PUK. In the Iraqi legislative elections of December 2005 the IGK decided to join the Kurdish coalition and was allocated one seat. However, in the parliamentary elections the group formed their own independent list. It received 152,530 votes (1.32%) and 2 seats (one in Hawler and one in Silemani).   AmR (TP)/SR 644