Gunmen assassinated an Iraqi woman member of parliament today in a fresh shock to politicians whose failure to form a government three months after elections has allowed violence to thrive unchecked.
Iraqi police said Lame'a Abed Khadawi, a member of caretaker Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's political party, was shot dead outside her house in eastern Baghdad. She is believed to be the first person in the 275-seat National Assembly to be killed.
Mr Allawi himself survived an assassination attempt this month when his convoy was attacked by a car bomber. Ms Khadawi was one of around 90 women elected to the assembly on January 30. By law, a third of the candidates on party lists had to be women.
Pressure has mounted on Iraq's politicians to end months of post-election bickering. America's top general urged them yesterday to form a new government quickly to combat an insurgency he said was as strong as it had been a year ago.
Prime minister-designate Ibrahim al-Jaafari had been expected to hand his proposed list of cabinet ministers to the three-man presidential council for approval. The eventual cabinet also needs a majority vote from the National Assembly.
Parliament met for several hours to discuss its rules and regulations, but ended the session before any list of cabinet names could be presented to it.
Hopes of announcing a government have repeatedly been dashed during three months of squabbling over the distribution of ministries to rival sects. Politicians had hoped the election would lead Iraq to stability and economic recovery.
Air Force General Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said speeding up the political process would be the best way to weaken a relentless insurgency.
"The political process must go forward," he told a Pentagon briefing. "We must have a cabinet appointed here very quickly. The ministries must continue to work. People must focus on two things: developing a constitution and developing their ministries into functioning ministries that continue to help."
Despite nearly 140,000 US troops and a similar number of Iraqi forces, guerrillas have the same capability to attack as they did a year ago, staging 50 or 60 attacks a day, Gen Myers said.