Government another week away

[struggle4progress]

By Kamal Taha in Baghdad
25mar05

SHIITE and Kurdish figures have delayed the second session of Iraq's elected parliament until Monday at least, and warned that bargaining over the formation of a government may drag on for another week.

Iraqi troops meanwhile battled insurgents in their former stronghold of Fallujah, and five Iraqi policemen and soldiers died in a friendly-fire incident yesterday.

Elsewhere, US ambassador to Bulgaria James Pardew asked Bulgaria's parliament not to set a definite date for the withdrawal of its troops from Iraq, a parliament spokesman in Sofia said.

The request came a day after the Bulgarian defence ministry said it would withdraw its 450 troops from Iraq by the end of the year. <snip>

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