The United States' strategy of sending more troops to Iraq will not help quell the violence there, and a solution must come from within Iraq, Malaysia said today.

"I think in increasing (troops) by 21,500, it is not going to help. I think what we need to address is the issue of sectarian conflict," Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said after talks with Danish counterpart Per Stig Moeller.

"When it comes to sectarian conflict, it is not for any outside force to get involved," he told reporters in reaction to the State of the Union address by President George W. Bush, who pleaded for support for his Iraq strategy.

"We should utilise a political solution that germinates from the Iraqis themselves ... otherwise the country will disintegrate into sectarian groups and there will be more body bags."

Syed Hamid said that Malaysia, the current chairman of the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference, wanted to see a clear timetable for a US exit from Iraq.

"I think this war is clearly not a war that can be won by a military mind," he said. "The Iraqi conflict must be resolved by Iraqis, and if others want to get involved, it must be within the region."