Formation of new Iraqi government stalled as legislative session delayed

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The U.S. military said four Marines were killed during combat Saturday in the volatile Anbar province west of Baghdad raising the number of American service members killed so far this month to nearly 50.\nOn Sunday, Iraq's parliamentary speaker postponed a planned legislative session "for a few days," signaling that talks among political leaders had achieved no breakthrough on finding someone to head the next government.\nActing Speaker Adnan Pachachi had said the 275-member assembly would convene Monday to try to jump-start the stalled process of forming a new government four months after parliamentary elections. But the Sunni politician said Sunday that the session would be delayed "for a few days."\nShiite officials did not want legislators to meet until all parties agreed on the new prime minister and other top posts requiring legislative approval. Sunni and Kurdish politicians oppose the Shiite choice of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari for a second term.\nAl-Jaafari has refused to step down, and Shiite officials have been reluctant to try to force him out for fear of shattering their political alliance. He also has the backing of influential anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.\nKurdish politician Mahmoud Othman said the nation's political parties supported the decision to delay the session until "all parties agree on all the nominees for the key posts."\nU.S. officials have been pressing the Iraqis to install a new national unity government as quickly as possible to confront armed insurgency and the sharp rise in tensions between Shiites and Sunnis.\nThe Marines -- three from Regimental Combat Team Five and one from the 2/28 Brigade Combat Team -- died Saturday, the military said in two separate statements.\nTheir deaths raised to 47 the number of U.S. troops who have died so far this month. That followed a sharp drop in March, which saw the lowest number of American dead in Iraq since February 2004 -- 31. The deadliest month was November 2004 when 137 were killed.\nAt least 2,376 members of the U.S. military have died since the war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.\nIn a bid to break the deadlock over the prime minister's post, Shiite politicians not affiliated with major parties have proposed that al-Jaafari step aside in favor of another candidate from his Dawa party, several Shiite officials said.\nIn return, the biggest Shiite party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, would not push Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi for the post, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks were at a sensitive stage.\nBut Shiite officials said al-Jaafari was digging in his heels, insisting that he would not step aside. Talks also were under way on other key posts that require parliamentary approval, including president and parliament speaker. Those two posts are expected to go to a Kurd and a Sunni.\nU.S. troops, meanwhile, detained an al-Qaida suspect in a raid south of Baghdad that killed six people on Sunday, and a car bomb exploded near a Shiite mosque elsewhere, killing at least 10 people and wounding 25, police said.\nThe Americans stormed a house about 2:15 a.m. in Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad and detained six suspected insurgents, including the al-Qaida militant targeted. The military didn't identify the suspect but said he worked with foreign fighters to plan bombings.\nThose inside the house started shooting, and the troops fired back, a U.S. statement said.\nSoldiers killed two men who were wearing suicide bomb vests, and a third detonated his explosives, the statement said. Two other suspected insurgents were killed.\nA woman also died in the crossfire, and three women and a child were wounded, the U.S. said. Five American troops were injured, but none seriously.\nThe car bomb hit an outdoor market not far from a Shiite mosque in Mahmoudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad, police Capt. Rasheed al-Samaraie said. The religiously mixed city on the Euphrates river has been the scene of frequent vehicle bombings over the past two years.\nA bomb hidden in a shopping bag on a minibus also exploded near a mosque in the mostly Shiite neighborhood of Kamaliyah in eastern Baghdad, killing at least three passengers and wounding six, police said.\nElsewhere, gunmen fired on a minibus north of Baqouba, killing five passengers and wounding four, police said, \noffering no other details.