by Mujahid Mohammed
MOSUL, Iraq - Forty-seven Iraqis were killed and more than 80 wounded Thursday in a suicide bombing at a Shiite funeral in Mosul, hospitals said, as the frontrunners in last month`s elections raced to finalise a deal on a new governing coalition.
The bomber struck as mourners flocked into a hall next to the Sadreen mosque, where a service was being held for Hisham al-Araji, the Mosul representative for radical Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr.
"Many people were killed or wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the hall where the funeral service was being held," said one witness.
Doctor Ahmed Rajab at the Medical City hospital said it had received 18 dead and 41 wounded, while Dr Jassem Abdul Karim at Salam Hospital said 29 bodies and 40 wounded were brought to his facility.
Local television asked people to give blood while the local Sunni Muslim leadership, fearful of reprisals, urged calm in Mosul, which is Iraq`s third-largest city and one of its most ethnically and religiously diverse.
Sunni Muslim Arabs make up about half of its 1.5 million population, while the rest are divided among Kurds, Turkmen, Shiites, Christians and other groups.
The city has been gripped by violence since November when the police force unravelled following insurgent attacks. And it saw very low Sunni turnout and numerous irregularities during the January 30 elections.
It is a stronghold of Islamic militant fighters and former regime loyalists.
The government claimed Thursday that it has killed or captured 18 of the top lieutenants of Al-Qaeda`s Iraq frontman, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, except for his man in Mosul, Abu Talha.
Zarqawi is Iraq`s most wanted fugitive, with a 25 million dollar bounty on his head. He has branded Shiites as "Jews and traitors" and vowed to target them.
The latest blow for Iraq`s majority Shiites came as their political alliance, which swept the elections, was putting the final touches on a deal with the Kurds to form a coalition ahead of the new parliament`s first session next Wednesday.
Both communities were poised for a taste of real power after being oppressed for decades under the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein, which favoured member`s of his Sunni Muslim clan.
The two sides have drafted a three-page principle of understanding that will formalise their alliance, the Shiite side said.
"Both sides agree. Most likely it will be signed Sunday," said Adnan Ali, an aide to the frontrunner for prime minister, Shiite Ibrahim Jaafari.
The document reaffirms Iraq`s commitment to the transitional law (TAL), passed under the US occupation.
With its commitment to a federal and secular Iraq, it will govern the country until the permanent constitution is written and ratified after a national referendum in October.
"We all agree that the TAL is the constitution for this government," Adnan said, adding it would govern the sensitive issue of the northern oil city of Kirkuk, which Kurds claim as their own.
He said the sides were in accord that Jaafari would be prime minister and Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani president.
Kurds had insisted on a written agreement, fearful that the Shiites, who had initially opposed the TAL`s granting Kurds` greater autonomy, would try to roll back their hard-won freedoms.
Dr. Fuad Massum, a senior Kurdish Alliance member, hailed the deal.
"A draft agreement had been reached with the (Shiite) United Iraqi Alliance about a number of important core issues," he said.
Sunnis, who largely boycotted the elections, are expected to be represented in important posts in the new cabinet.
Shiite and Kurdish leaders have insisted on the need to reach out to the community that benefited the most under Saddam Hussein`s Baathist regime and have fueled the insurgency roiling the country.
In Baghdad, a police chief, Lieutenant Colonel Ahmed Obaiss, was gunned down Thursday along with two of his companions as they drove through Darwish Square in the Al-Saidiyah neighbourhood according to hospital sources.
Zarqawi`s group claimed the murder saying they had killed a "brutal" intelligence officer, in a statement posted on the Internet.
Another police chief was killed south of Baghdad, said security sources.
North of the capital, gunmen shot down the son of a tribal chief as he left a US base in Balad, said police Major Adel Abdullah. The man was identified as Hamad Suhail, the son of Sheikh Suhail Ahmed, the head of the Al-Makadima tribe around the town of Al-Dujail.
A contractor was killed near Tuz as he drove to Tikrit and roadside bombs killed an Iraqi soldier and a civilian near Duluiyah and Baiji, security sources said.

03/10/2005 20:25 GMT