by Kamal Taha and Sam Dagher
BAGHDAD - Iraq`s new parliament will hold its first session in 10 days time, more than a month after the country`s historic vote, officials in the Kurdish and Shiite blocs who are negotiating a governing coalition said on Sunday.
Iraqi forces backed by US soldiers meanwhile stepped up operations in and around Samarra, north of Baghdad, tracking leads that number one fugitive Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may be in the area, an Iraqi security official said.
"We agreed that the first session of parliament will take place on March 16, the anniversary of the chemical bombing of the Kurdish town of Halabja by the former regime of Saddam Hussein," outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh told AFP.
The national assembly`s first order of business will be to elect a speaker and vote on a presidential council, including a president and two deputies, who in turn will choose a prime minister to form the next government.
Saleh, a leading figure in the Kurdish alliance which won 77 of the 275 seats in parliament, said talks with the first-place Shiite list will continue until then.
An official with the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) confirmed the date of the first session, adding that the two sides had agreed to share the top posts of the presidency, vice presidency and premiership.
"We decided to set that date because all the signs indicate that an agreement will be ready before the first session," said Jawad Maliky, second in command in the Dawa party of prime minister candidate Ibrahim Jaafari.
Kurds are expected to get the presidency with senior leader Jalal Talabani being a favourite.
Talks over the next few days will focus on sharing the cabinet posts and bringing in the Sunnis, who largely boycotted the elections but are now seeking a role in the government, according to Maliky.
"We have agreed on the principals," added Maliky, who also served as deputy speaker in the previous interim assembly.
Kurds, who have played the role of kingmaker in the process of forming the next government, have received assurances from the UIA list about the secular nature of the next government and its respect for Iraq`s multi-ethnic and multi-confessional character.
Both sides have agreed that the interim laws, passed under the previous US-led occupation, will be the basis of the permanent constitution that will be put to a referendum in October.
As for Kurdish claims over the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, both sides appear for now to have agreed to make the thorny issue part of the next legislative debate.
"Kurds have not climbed down from their hardline position on Kirkuk, but we agreed that it will be dealt with in the context of the interim laws which will form the basis of the new constitution," said Maliky.
Article 58 of the laws signed by former US administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer defers the resolution of Kirkuk until after property claims are looked into, a new constitution is drafted and a new census conducted.
Kurds regard Kirkuk as their Jerusalem and say its true character was forcibly altered when Saddam settled Arabs there.
Their grievances against Saddam include his alleged order of atrocities such as the gassing of an estimated 5,000 people in Halabja in the Kurdistan region in March 1988. The empowered Kurds have ruled their semi-autonomous region since the early 1990s.
As Iraqis focused on moving forward the political process, a controversy brewed over the fatal shooting by US troops at a convoy carrying liberated Italian hostage Guiliana Sgrena.
The 56-year-old journalist, who returned to Italy on Saturday, wrote in an article published Sunday in her paper Il Manifesto that her kidnappers, who treated her well, warned her that the Americans did not want her to be released.
"They said they were committed to releasing me, but that I had to be careful `because there are Americans who don`t want you to go back`," she said in her first account of her month in captivity.
Sgrena`s convoy was shot at by US troops while travelling on Baghdad`s airport road, wounding her and killing Italian intelligence officer Nicola Calipari.
A senior spokesman for multinational forces in Baghdad refused to comment on Sgrena`s report, saying an internal inquiry was underway.
The military has previously said it shot at the vehicle because it was speeding towards the checkpoint and failed to stop after soldiers flashed lights and fired several warning shots.
Sgrena said they had not been travelling fast.
Friday`s incident is seen likely to rekindle debate in Italy over when to withdraw Italy`s 3,000 strong military contingent from Iraq, the key condition laid down by Sgrena`s kidnappers for her release.
On the ground, Iraqi and US security forces were pursuing leads on Jordanian-born Zarqawi, the man held responsible for the worst hostage killings and car bomb attacks. He has a 25-million-dollar US bounty on his head.
Samarra`s entrances have been sealed since Saturday and 66 suspects arrested.
Bloodshed continued to plague the country with five people killed on a dangerous stretch of highway south of the capital, said an officer in the Iraqi army on condition of anonymity.
In Mosul, a former administrative official was gunned down and in Baiji a local police chief was kidnapped, said security sources.

03/06/2005 18:06 GMT