Iraq parties rally for coalition after bloodshed
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-03-03 11:02

Iraq's main political parties rallied behind efforts to form a national unity coalition after another day of sectarian violence on Thursday that US and Iraqi leaders fear could lead to civil war.

Iraqi policemen look at the wreckage of vehicles after a bomb attack in Baghdad, March 1, 2006. [Reuters]

But Sunni leaders said they were not dropping their demands that Shi'ite Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari step down.

Apparently fearing more trouble as Sunnis and Shi'ites head to their respective mosques on the Muslim day of prayer, state television announced a new daytime curfew on Baghdad on Friday, the second week running the authorities have taken such action.

A bomb killed five people in a Shi'ite militia stronghold in the capital and an attack on Sunni politician Adnan al-Dulaimi cranked up tension building since a bomb destroyed a Shi'ite shrine last week, sparking reprisals that have killed hundreds.

Jaafari, under pressure over his performance in the crisis and from US officials keen to see him bring minority Sunnis into government, hosted talks with representatives of the main political blocs.

"We agreed to continue the dialogue among all the blocs," Jaafari ally Jawad al-Maliki told a news conference after the meeting, which included the Sunni Dulaimi, Kurds, other Shi'ites and secular leaders, and US and British diplomats.

"Anything can be discussed at the negotiating table," Maliki said. "We have no red lines on anything."