Iraqi President Jalal Talabani yesterday said he was willing to talk to violent opponents of his government if they wanted to contact him.

"If those who call themselves the Iraqi resistance desired to contact me, I would welcome them. I would not refuse to meet any Iraqi who wants to meet me. But of course that does not mean I will accept what he says," he told a news conference.

Mr Talabani was in Egypt for a reconciliation meeting of Iraqi politicians, organised by the Cairo-based Arab League.

Iraqi government leaders have previously said they will talk to those who are not responsible for killing Iraqis and are committed to laying down their arms.

They have also said a precondition for talks is that their negotiating partners show they have influence among insurgents by persuading them to stop attacks.

Mr Talabani said so far there had not in fact been any contacts with "those whom some describe as the resistance".

The death toll from a suicide car bomb attack on the funeral of a Shi'ite sheikh rose to at least 50 from 35, doctors said yesterday, as the number killed in a spate of attacks over the past two days rose to 150. Another 75 people were wounded when the bomber blew up his vehicle near a crowded condolence tent at the tribal sheikh's funeral on Saturday in Abu Sayda, a small town near Baquba, 65 kilometres northeast of Baghdad.

A British soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Basra, southern Iraq, yesterday and four others were injured, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said in London.

Since the conflict started in 2003, 98 British soldiers have died in Iraq.