BAGHDAD -- Egypt will hold a high-level international conference next month to discuss ways to stabilize Iraq and prevent the spread of sectarian violence to its neighbors, Iraq's foreign minister said Saturday.

The meeting will provide a rare opportunity for U.S. officials to sit at the same table with counterparts from Iran and Syria. Tensions with those countries have skyrocketed in the wake of accusations by Washington that they are providing key support to militants fighting U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said he hoped the gathering would help thaw relations.

"We expect there will be chances to hold bilateral dialogues," he said at a news briefing here. But he conceded that "there is some work ahead of us to ensure the participation of all the countries in this meeting and to encourage all to participate constructively."

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has indicated she will attend and has not ruled out direct talks with her Iranian counterparts.

The announcement about attempts to ease sectarian divisions came on a day when at least 44 bodies were found, including 19 caught in a net stretched under a bridge in Baqubah to collect trash, officials said. It was not immediately clear how old the corpses were. When temperatures rise in the spring, discarded bodies frequently float to the surface of rivers coursing through some of Iraq's most volatile regions.

By Alexandra Zavis
Los Angeles Times