Iraqi MP killed

Gunmen assassinated an Iraqi woman member of parliament yesterday in a fresh shock to politicians whose failure to form a government three months after elections has allowed violence to thrive unchecked.

Iraqi police said Lame'a Abed Khadawi, a member of caretaker Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's political party, was shot dead outside her house in eastern Baghdad. She is the first person in the 275-seat National Assembly to be killed.

Mr Allawi himself survived a suicide car bomb attack on his convoy this month. Ms Khadawi was one of around 90 women elected to the assembly on January 30. By law, a third of the candidates on party lists had to be women.

Pressure has mounted on Iraq's politicians to end months of post-election bickering. America's top general urged them on Tuesday to form a new government quickly to combat an insurgency he said was as strong as it had been a year ago.

Prime minister-designate Ibrahim al-Jaafari told reporters he had sent his proposed Cabinet list to the three-man presidential council for approval and said he expected it would go before the National Assembly for a vote today.

"We can't talk about what names are on the list until it is formally approved by the Parliament," Mr Jaafari said, adding that seven women would be included in what is expected to be a Cabinet of 32 or 33 ministers.

Hopes of announcing a government have repeatedly been dashed during three months of squabbling over the distribution of ministries to rival sects. Politicians had hoped the election would lead Iraq to stability and economic recovery.

Air Force General Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said speeding up the political process would be the best way to weaken a relentless insurgency.