Baghdad, Iraq – Violence killed dozens of people, including a U.S. soldier, as efforts to finish choosing the new Cabinet bogged down Monday in a web of conflicting interests.
Officials said Iraqi parties may look outside parliament to find candidates for some key posts.
One lawmaker said outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, a former Pentagon favorite, had been mentioned to head the Interior Ministry. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks are secret, acknowledged that Chalabi was a long shot.
The deadliest attack Monday occurred when a car bomb exploded near an Iraqi court in central Baghdad, killing five Iraqi civilians and wounding 10, police Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohammedawi said.
Two Iraqi policemen died and 12 people were wounded when another car bomb went off near a police patrol traveling down busy Palestine Street in eastern Baghdad, police Lt. Ahmed Qassim said.
The American soldier was killed when a roadside bomb struck a military convoy Monday southeast of Baghdad, according to a U.S. statement.
In a separate statement, the U.S. command said one American soldier was killed and another wounded during a clash Sunday near Tall Afar, 260 miles northwest of Baghdad.
The fatalities raised to at least 2,421 the number of U.S. military members who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
