The Iraqi Prime Minister said today that he planned to hold preliminary talks with seven Sunni insurgent groups that have reacted positively to his plan for ending the country’s bloodshed.

Mr al-Maliki said that he had been contacted many times since announcing his 24-point reconciliation plan on Sunday.

He told The Times: "We are welcoming this . . . interaction for the possibility of repairing the situation, but we are still waiting to meet directly with these groups and to talk with them quietly to gain them for the political process."

Mr al-Maliki also won the support today of the Sunni Endowment, one of the largest Sunni groups in Iraq, but the two main armed factions vowed to continue their jihad.

The reconciliation plan was a "malicious project aimed at salvaging his crusader masters and their apostate lackeys", the Mujahidin Shura Council, an eight-member coalition led by al-Qaeda in Iraq, said.

The Islamic Resistance Group also rejected the plan, which it said was designed to uphold a Government "created by the occupation".

Mr al-Maliki said that the supportive groups had contacted him through an Arab militia. "I don’t want to mention their names specifically before they actually declare their names from their side," he said.

However al-Sabah, a state-owned newspaper, named six of the groups as the 1920 Brigades, Muhammad’s Army, Abtal al-Iraq (Heroes of Iraq), the 9th of April Group, al-Fatah Brigades and the Brigades of the General Command of the Armed Forces.

The 1920 Brigades and Muhammad’s Army are made up of former Baathists and army officers. The other factions are lesser known. There was no way to verify the information independently.

Mr al-Maliki ruled out amnesty for any insurgents who had killed Iraqis or coalition troops.

He said: "It does not include those who killed Iraqis or even those who killed multinational soldiers from multinational forces. Those soldiers came to Iraq under international agreement to help Iraq."

Such killers were trying "to bring down democracy and the political process", and the issue was not negotiable. "This is an international commitment. This is an ethical commitment. Whoever kills is not included in the amnesty."

A representative from Muhammad’s Army said that the plan was proof of the damage the insurgency had inflicted on the US political leadership. The source said: "The occupation wants to find a way out from this disaster . . . What the resistance did to the American troops put them in a really bad position."

Asked whether Iran was smuggling bombs into Iraq and training Shia insurgent groups, Mr al-Maliki said: "We refuse any interference in Iraqi affairs. And allowing explosives to go through the border or training militants, we regard this as interference."

He said that he had raised the issues with Iran, which had denied the allegations.

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