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Six die in US raid on safehouse

Six people were killed during a raid before dawn yesterday as US troops hunted down an al-Qaeda suspect at a safehouse south of Baghdad, the US military said. In the capital, a bomb hidden in a shopping bag on a minibus killed at least three passengers.

US forces stormed the house in Youssifiyah, 20km south of Baghdad, about 2:15am. Those inside started shooting, and the troops fired back, a US statement said.

Soldiers killed two men who were wearing suicide bomb vests, and a third detonated his explosives himself, the statement said.

A woman also died, and three women and a child were wounded, in the crossfire, the US said. Five US troops were injured, but none seriously, the statement added.

Five suspected insurgents, including the target of the raid, were detained and weapons were seized, the statement said.

The alleged al-Qaeda suspect was not identified but the military said he worked with foreign fighters to plan bombings.

The minibus bombing occurred near a mosque in the mostly Shiite neighborhood of Kamaliyah in eastern Baghdad. At least six others were wounded in the morning blast, police said.

Meanwhile, Iraq's Sunni Arab and Kurdish leaders warned yesterday that the long-running political deadlock over Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari was unlikely to end before parliament convenes this week.

Iraqi leaders have failed to agree on the Shiite nomination of Jaafari to remain premier, four months after a landmark election for the country's first permanent post-Saddam Hussein government.

Leaders of Sunni and Kurdish parliamentary blocs said negotiations over Jaafari's candidacy were unlikely to find a solution before the assembly meets today for only the second time since the Dec. 15 election.

"It will be difficult," said Zhafer al-Ani, spokesman of the Sunni-led National Concord Front, which has 44 seats in the 275-member parliament.

"We are not optimistic about a decision today before the parliament opens tomorrow as negotiations are very difficult," he said.

Prominent Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman said leaders of all political parties were due to meet yesterday and were even likely to consider whether to attend parliament or not today.

"I do not think they will be able to reach an agreement, especially on all the candidates for key parliamentary posts," Othman said.

Shiite leaders had originally said they would finalize their candidates for the various government posts before today.

The Sunnis and Kurds are opposed to Jaafari staying on as premier, accusing him of failing to curb sectarian violence that has engulfed Iraq for the last few months, leaving hundreds of people dead.

Sunnis fear that the Shiites -- in a tit-for-tat political move -- may oppose their candidates for other key posts.

Ani said the Front had finalized candidates for three posts. Top Sunni leader Adnan al-Dulaimi was nominated as vice president, Tareq al-Hashemi as parliament speaker and Khalaf al-Alyan as deputy prime minister.

"We will consult today with other groups on these candidates and I hope they [the Shiite alliance] will not have reservations on our names due to our objections to Jaafari," Ani said.

"They should consider national interests and rise above their own party interests," he said.

Othman said Kurdish groups had not yet finalized candidates for the posts of deputy parliamentary speaker and deputy prime minister but insisted that "Jalal Talabani will be the candidate for the president."

In the last few days the Shiites have been stressing the importance of discussing candidates for all key posts as part of an overall package, not just the premiership.
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