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Iraqi lawmakers remain deadlocked as attacks rage

Iraqi politicians tried again yesterday to end a deadlock over the formation of the country's new transitional government, and the death toll from two well-coordinated militant attacks against Iraqi police and civilians rose to 29.

Insurgents, meanwhile, launched two separate attacks aimed at Iraq's oil industry in the north, setting fire to oil pumps near Kirkuk, and opening fire on police guarding a convoy of oil tanker trucks, officials said. Two policemen were wounded and three insurgents arrested in a one-hour gunbattle over the convoy, police said.

On Sunday, lawmakers loyal to Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Ibrahim al-Jaafari said he was ready to announce a Cabinet that would exclude his interim predecessor, Ayad Allawi.

Al-Jaafari had decided, some members of his political bloc said, to shun further attempts to include members of the party headed by Allawi, the secular Shiite politician who had served as prime minister as the country prepared for elections on Jan. 30.

Members of Allawi's Iraqi List, which controls 40 seats in the National Assembly, said his party had not been officially informed of the development. Allawi loyalists were bidding for at least four ministries, including a senior government post and a deputy premiership.

The New York Times yesterday reported that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and US Vice President Dick Cheney, frustrated by the political deadlock, were pushing top Kurdish and Shiite politicians to come together and form a new government.

On Sunday, an emboldened Iraqi insurgency staged carefully coordinated dual bombings in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit and a Shiite neighborhood in western Baghdad, killing and wounding dozens of Iraqi police and civilians.
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