BAGHDAD, November 26 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The interim Iraqi government is planning to hold talks with Iraqi resistance soon in the Jordanian capital Amman, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Thursday, November 25.

Zebari said the talks aim to persuade the Iraqi resistance groups to renounce “violence” and take part in the general elections, due next January.

“The government will initiate contacts in Amman in the near future with representatives of the Iraqi opposition to encourage them to take part in the polls," Zebari was quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as saying.

He said among those who would be consulted over the January 30 elections would be members of the former Baathist regime, many of whom were booted out of top jobs after the 2003 US-led invasion.

“The aim is really to reach out to as many people as possible both inside and outside.”

The Iraqi foreign minister’s remarks signaled the first response of the Iraqi government to engage in dialogue with Iraqi resistance groups.

Zebari’s remarks came as Iraqi fighters vowed to disturb elections by targeting anything related to the vote, including boycott calls and death threats to election officials.

Many Iraqis reportedly support resistance fighters, despite claims by the US and the American-backed interim Iraqi government that they are terrorists.

They believe the invasion-turned-occupation of their country was based on false pretexts and meant for seizing control of Iraq’s natural riches _ which ahs the world’s second largest oil reserves.

Zebari said the interim Iraqi government “welcomes the broader participation of Iraqis, even those who are oppositionists, in this process of politics, if they renounce violence and terror."

The Iraqi official declined to give further details on the date of the meeting or specify which resistance leaders would be invited, only saying they will be "some people who are of political and tribal backgrounds."

Zebari said the meeting was proposed by various parties attended the international conference on Iraq in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to hold dialogue with the Iraqi resistance.

Resistance against US forces began after American forces trundled into Baghdad in April 2004 on claims of searching for weapons of mass destruction _ none of which have been found in the country so far.

As the date of the January’s elections loom large in the war-torn country, the electoral commission on Thursday, November 25, granted political parties in the country an extended deadline to announce their candidacy in the January ballots.

"The electoral commission decided today to extend until December 2, the deadline for registering political entities in the provinces of Salaheddin, Al-Anbar and Mosul," the commission’s spokesman Farid Ayar said.

The elections’ deadline was initially set for November 22.

Ayar added that the decision was made to “allow more political entities in these provinces to submit their candidacies.

On the ground, two US marines were killed in the western Baghdad city of Fallujah in a resistance ambush during house-clearing operations, Lt Gen John Sattler said.

The US military vowed the western Iraqi city would be safe for the time of the January’s elections.

“We want every Fallujah to vote from their house," he said.

However, resistance groups in the devastated Iraqi city said Friday that they had reorganized after the massive US onslaught on the city and resumed attacks against the US occupation forces.

“After reorganizing, the Mujahedeen resumed their attacks Wednesday with the aim of shattering the myth of the invincibility of the coalition forces, and the traitors and collaborators who are under the orders of [Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad] Allawi and [Interior Minister Falah] Naqib,” read a statement posted on the internet by the Mujahedeen Council.

An AFP reporter "embedded" with US marines in Fallujah reported Friday that gunfire and explosions appeared significantly more intense than over the past few days.