The Christian population in Iraq has been the target of increased violence in recent weeks as thousands of the religious minority have scattered to the villages surrounding Mosul to flee a wave of militant attacks.

While several tribal elders have expressed disdain for the continued U.S. occupation of Iraq, their opposition to al-Qaida and its continued attacks against fellow Muslims has moved to the forefront of their agenda, the National newspaper in the United Arab Emirates said Tuesday.

"We have been in talks about this for more than a year now, and we are seeing people now changing their mentalities and are coming over to the political side of things," said Sheik Hasan al-Hamadani, an influential Sunni leader.

Sunni elders were in part behind the success of the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy as several moved into power in Anbar province to drive al-Qaida out of the western province in 2005.

Hamadani said several tribal leaders in Mosul were apprehensive about sharing a strategy with the United States but realized al-Qaida posed the ultimate threat to national reconciliation.

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