Sunday, Feb 06, 2005
Iraqi Shia alliance to demand Premier's post
BAGHDAD, FEB. 5. The Shia alliance expected to win a commanding victory in Iraq's election will insist one of its members be appointed as the country's next Prime Minister, a senior official in the alliance said today.
"Shias want the Prime Minister post, we are insisting on it and will not give it up," the Deputy Foreign Minister, Hamed al-Bayati, told Reuters. Mr. Bayati is a senior official in the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).
SCIRI is a key player in the United Iraqi Alliance, a group of mainly Islamist parties that won strong support from Iraq's 60 per cent Shia majority in last Sunday's elections. If the alliance demands the post, it will be a blow to Prime Minister Iyad Allawi who had hoped to be picked again as a compromise candidate.
Violence continues
Meanwhile, a roadside bomb exploded beside an Iraqi troop patrol in southern Iraq today, killing four Iraqi National Guardsmen, and four American soldiers were killed by bombs in the north.
Also today, an Iraqi police commander said 11 of his officers were missing after their convoy was ambushed earlier this week in a dangerous area west of Baghdad. — AP
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