Iraqi parties strike deal on new gov't as suicide attack hits Mosul

As Iraqi various sides are making efforts to form a new government after the elections on Jan. 30, a suicide bomber struck a Shiite mosque in the northern city of Mosul on Thursday, leaving 47 people dead and more than 80 others wounded.

The explosion went off inside the mosque in the Tameen District in northern Mosul as a funeral was underway.

Body parts and broken glass were scattered everywhere as people rushed the wounded to hospital.

Mosul has been a hotbed of insurgent attacks against those accused of collaborating with US forces since US and Iraqi forces launched a massive assault on the restive city of Fallujah late last year.

Meanwhile, a Shiite alliance and Kurdish parties announced Thursday they had reached an agreement about the new government.

The Kurds agreed to support the alliance's candidate for prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari. In exchange, the Shiite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance will back Jalal Talabani as president.

According to the deal, the government will hold discussions over the return of refugees and redrawing existing Kurdish autonomous regions to include the city.

Iraqi officials said any land agreement would be incorporated into the country's new constitution, which must be drafted by mid-August and approved by referendum two months later.

The Kurds have demanded that more steps be taken in line with Article 58 of the Transitional Administrative Law, which says the new government will discuss the return of thousands of Kurds to Kirkuk.

Under Saddam Hussein's regime, about 100,000 Kurds were expelled from Kirkuk according to a plan to Arabize the city, where Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen coexisted.

"We have agreed to solve the issue (of Kirkuk) in two steps. Firstly, the new government is committed to normalizing the situation in the city. Secondly, regarding annexing Kirkuk to Kurdistan is to be left until the writing of the constitution," said Fuad Masoum, a member of the Kurdish joint coalition that ranin the Jan. 30 elections.

Also on Thursday, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld discussed with his Italian counterpart, Antonio Martino, about the killing of Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari.

Describing the killing as "the most unfortunate incident," Rumsfeld expressed sympathy to the family of the Italian agent and to the Italians who were wounded in the incident.

"I assured the defense minister of Italy, last week and again this morning in our conversation, the tragic event is being investigated and will be investigated fully, in very close cooperation with the Italian government," he told reporters at a joint press conference after meeting his French counterpart, Michele Alliot-Marie.

Calipari was killed in Iraq last Friday by US troops when he was escorting released Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena to Baghdad airport. Sgrena had been held hostage by Iraqi insurgents for a month.

In Rome, Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi Thursday welcomed US President George W. Bush's assurance of a "transparent" inquiry into the event.

Source: Xinhua