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Deadlock persists over Iraq Premier post

Talks achieve no breakthrough

Iraq: The Speaker of Iraq's Parliament announced on Sunday that he was postponing a planned session ``for a few days,'' signalling that talks among political leaders had achieved no breakthrough on the issue of who will head the next government.

Speaker Adnan Pachachi had said the 275-member Assembly would meet on Monday to try to jump-start the stalled process of forming a new government four months after parliamentary elections.

But Shia officials said they saw no purpose in convening Parliament until all parties had agreed on the new Prime Minister and other posts which require legislative approval. Sunni and Kurdish politicians oppose the Shia choice of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to head the next government.

Al-Jaafari has refused to step down, and Shia officials have been reluctant to try to force him out for fear of shattering their political alliance.

4 U.S. Marines killed

Four U.S. Marines died in combat in Anbar province west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Sunday.

All four died on Saturday, the military said in two separate statements.

U.S. casualties have begun to rise this month following a sharp drop in March, which saw the lowest number of American dead in Iraq since February 2004. Last month, 31 U.S. service members died in Iraq, but fatalities in April have already passed 40.

A car bomb exploded on Sunday near a Shia mosque south of Baghdad, killing at least 10 persons and injuring about 25, police said.

The blast occurred in the market in Mahmoudiya, about 30 km south of Baghdad, a short distance from the mosque, police Capt. Rasheed al-Samaraie said. — AP

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