BAGHDAD, Iraq – A Sunni Arab politician said yesterday that two insurgent groups were willing to negotiate with the government, possibly opening a new political front in embattled Iraq. But a string of coordinated deadly bombings signaled that militants remain fierce.

The former Cabinet minister said he had established contact with the groups that account for a large part of the Sunni insurgents and were responsible for attacks against Iraqis and foreigners, including assassinations and kidnappings.

It was the first public disclosure that such negotiations might be in the offing with specific groups, but independent confirmation was not possible. Prime Minister al-Jaafari’s government declined comment.

At least 24 lives were claimed in the day’s violence, which included four explosions within seven minutes in and around Hawija, 40 miles southwest of Kirkuk, and the killings of a Sunni cleric and a foreign ministry employee. The fatalities pushed the death toll to 871 in the 5 1/2 weeks since the government was formed.

The former electricity minister, Ayham al-Samarie, told the Associated Press the Islamic Army in Iraq and the Army of Mujahedeen – or holy warriors – were ready to open talks with the Shiite-led government aimed at eventually joining the political process.

The claim appears consistent with comments from a senior Shiite legislator, Hummam Hammoudi, who told the AP last week the government had opened indirect channels of communication with some insurgent groups.

The contacts were “becoming more promising and they give us reason to continue,” Mr. Hammoudi said without providing details.

Mr. al-Samarie, an Illinois Institute of Technology graduate who holds dual American and Iraqi citizenship, said the two groups represent more than 50% of the “resistance.” He excluded the Al Qaeda in Iraq group, which has carried out some of the bloodiest attacks and is headed by a non-Iraqi, Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

American military officials believe about 12,000 to 20,000 fighters, including supporters, make up the insurgency.

Mr. al-Samarie said he began contacting insurgent political leaders about five months ago. He did not meet any field commanders, he said, but would not name those he contacted or say who else joined in the meetings.

“Guns will not solve the problem. Guns never solved any problems; it’s always politics that solves problems,” he said. “How can they [the government] solve the problem without talking to the resistance? The resistance exists and everyone knows it exists.”

Mr. al-Samarie said he told the insurgent leaders they had to “come out to the political arena.”

“We told them that ‘no one knows what you want,'” he said, speaking in his home in an upscale Baghdad neighborhood. “‘You say you want the occupier to leave Iraq but what do you want after that? You must have a political agenda.'”

The insurgent leaders agreed “that the time has come for them to come out,” Mr. al-Samarie said.

The Islamic Army in Iraq is a significant insurgent group that has claimed responsibility for attacks on American and Iraqi forces as recently as in the last two weeks.

The group, most active in Baghdad and the region directly to the south, generally avoids bombings. Besides attacks against American forces, it has claimed responsibility for assassinations of Iraqi government officials and the killings of an Italian journalist and Pakistani contractors. It released two French journalists in December 2004 after holding them for 124 days.

It claims thousands in its ranks and says its members are predominantly Iraqi. According to insurgent statements, the group has at times collaborated with the Al Qaeda in Iraq network of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and the Ansar al-Sunnah Army.

Less is known about the Mujahedeen Army, but it has claimed responsibility for scores of attacks, including the April downing of a helicopter carrying 11 civilians, among them six Americans, and the kidnapping of Indonesian journalists who were released unharmed in February.

The effort to begin talks comes at a delicate time for the government, criticized by Sunni Arab groups for deliberately targeting the minority in counterinsurgency campaigns such as the ongoing Operation Lighting in Baghdad.