Iraq coalition talks 'open to all' - Iyad Allawi

The leader of the secular alliance that narrowly won Iraq's parliamentary election has offered to work with all parties to form a coalition government. Iyad Allawi said his Iraqiya bloc would start by talking with the rival State of Law alliance of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, which it beat by two seats. Mr Maliki has refused to accept the result and said he would challenge the count through the courts. Both the UN and US envoys to Iraq have said the 7 March poll was credible.There is concern that a challenge to the result could be lengthy and divisive, endangering progress towards greater stability. Sectarian violence erupted in Iraq as politicians took months to form a government after the last parliamentary election in 2005. Police on Saturday raised the death toll to at least 52 from twin bombings a day earlier near a restaurant in the town of Khalis, 80km (50 miles) north of Baghdad. More than 70 people were injured in the blasts.