Iraqi assembly to meet

Iraq will hold a meeting of its newly elected National Assembly within 10 days with or without a new government, the deputy prime minister said yesterday, hoping to instil a sense of order amid daily violence.

Five weeks after elections, the lack of agreement between leading parties over who will lead the new government has fanned fears insurgent violence will spiral unchecked.

Suicide attacks, car bombings and kidnappings are a regular feature of life in Baghdad and elsewhere. US troops, targeted by insurgents, have also been criticised for fuelling violence by over-zealous attempts to crackdown on guerillas.

Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, freed from kidnappers on Friday, said US troops may have deliberately targeted her car as she travelled to Baghdad airport because Washington opposed Italy's policy of dealing with kidnappers.

An Italian secret agent was killed in the shooting, which the US army said was triggered when the car ignored warning shots and sped towards a checkpoint.

A senior US official, White House counselor Dan Bartlett, said the shooting was a "horrific accident".

The new Iraqi government faces the daunting task of trying to establish security and negotiate a withdrawal of US troops. Many Iraqis voice frustration that politicians have delayed debate on such matters because of political wrangling.

Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih said he hoped politicians would end horse-trading over top posts soon, so the National Assembly could meet for the first time.

"The meeting will be on March 16 and we agreed to continue meetings (on a government) and hope to reach an agreement by then," Mr Salih told Reuters. "If we don't reach an agreement then the National Assembly will begin its work and discussions will continue inside the assembly."

The main point of contention between the three leading parties is who will be prime minister.

A Shi'ite Muslim alliance which won a slim parliamentary majority in the January 30 polls, gaining power after decades of Sunni domination under Saddam Hussein, has chosen Ibrahim Jaafari as its candidate for prime minister. Pro-US interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is also bidding to keep his job.

Both have launched a charm offensive with the Kurds who, having come second in the elections, can make or break a deal. The Shi'ite alliance needs the Kurdish vote to secure the two-thirds majority required to select a new government.

The Kurdish coalition said on Saturday it would only back the Shi'ite alliance when it was assured the alliance would not impose an Islamic fundamentalist state. The Kurds also want clarity on the status of the ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk.

For all parties, a balance of sectarian interests is crucial to boost the government's legitimacy after many Sunni Arabs boycotted the polls or were too afraid to vote.

Sunnis have led an insurgency bent on bringing down the US-backed interim government and stalling efforts to form the new cabinet. Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has been behind many of the bloodiest attacks and the beheading of several hostages.

Ms Sgrena said her kidnappers seemed to be a "very religious lot". She wrote in yesterday's Il Manifesto, the communist daily for which she was reporting from Iraq, that it was possible US soldiers had targeted her.

"The United States doesn't approve of this (ransom) policy and so they try to stop it in any way possible."