Mon Mar 13, 2006 8:43 AM ET
By Ross Colvin and Mariam Karouny

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's president pressed political parties on Monday to accelerate efforts to form a broad government to arrest a slide into civil war after bomb blasts in a Baghdad Shi'ite slum killed 52 people.

A government of national unity encompassing Kurds, Shi'ites and Sunnis is widely seen as the best way to bring stability to the country, but three months after elections political leaders are deadlocked over who should lead it.

"The terrorists, infidels and Saddam Hussein's followers are seeking to spread the spirit of separation and exploiting gaps left by any delay in the political process," President Jalal Talabani said in a statement.

In more violence on Monday, nine people were killed, including seven policemen, and 36 wounded across Iraq. The governor of Salahaddin province also survived a car bomb attack on his convoy in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit.

"It is the duty of the political blocs to intensify their efforts to form a government and establish a broad front to achieve security and stability," Talabani said.

Politicians said they would step up negotiations but doubted a deal would be possible by the time the parliament elected in December meets for its first session on Thursday.

"The meetings will be hours and hours long, all leaderships will meet at one table in order to agree," said Zafir al-Ani, a spokesman of the Sunni Accordance Front, the biggest Sunni political grouping.

"We wish we could reach a deal by Thursday but I think it is very difficult," he told Reuters.

After a lull in sectarian violence unleashed by the bombing of an important Shi'ite shrine on February 22, blasts ripped through the Baghdad stronghold of a major Shi'ite militia on Sunday. The U.S. military said 52 were killed and more than 200 wounded.

Talabani, a Kurd, said the bombings were meant to "inflame sectarian strife and fan the fires of civil war".

Officials, including the U.S. ambassador, have warned that another attack like the Samarra mosque bombing could spark all-out sectarian conflict in the bitterly divided country.

Radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said he would not order his militia to strike Sunni al Qaeda militants after Sunday's bombings, which hit his Sadr City stronghold.

"I could order the Mehdi Army to root out the terrorists and fundamentalists but this would lead us into civil war and we don't want that," the youthful Sadr told a news conference in the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf.

Police discovered the shot and tortured bodies of four Shi'ites in Sadr City on Monday. Next to the bodies was a sign bearing a single word: "Traitors".

The Mehdi Army was accused of leading reprisals on Sunni mosques and clerics after Samarra that killed hundreds in a few days. Sadr has denied the charge.

Police said up to six car bombs ripped through two markets in Sadr City on Sunday. Along with the dead at least 204 people were wounded, they said.

Mehdi Army militia manned checkpoints on roads into the sprawling east Baghdad slum, home to 2 million people, on Monday, searching cars for possible explosives and weapons.

DEAL WILL TAKE TIME

Sunday's blasts erupted as political leaders, shepherded by U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, met yet again to discuss forming a unity government.

Sunnis, Kurds and secular leaders have been blocking accord with a demand that Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the Shi'ite who has led the interim government for the past year, be dropped as the Shi'ites' choice of premier for the new, four-year term.

The Shi'ite Alliance, the largest bloc in parliament, has insisted it will stick with Jaafari despite the pressure.

Sunni Arabs, who are seeking the post of speaker and Kurds the post of president for interim head of state Talabani, need the support of the Alliance for their candidates, which means parties need to compromise in order to get what they want.

The parliament session set for Thursday is expected to remain technically open for days, without adjourning, in order to give time for blocs meet a constitutional requirement to elect a speaker in the "first" session, officials said.

Iraq's politicians said they were determined to reach a deal as soon as possible but that it would take time.

"We intend to have continued meetings for days and nights," said Adnan Pachachi, a Sunni politician in the secular Iraqi List led by Shi'ite former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.

Saddam's trial continued, with the judge who oversaw the trial of 148 Shi'ite men accused of plotting to assassinate the former Iraqi leader taking the stand.

Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court, acknowledged he had issued a death warrant for the men and insisted it was legal.

Bandar is being tried along with Saddam and six others for crimes against humanity for the killings. Former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan accused U.S. troops of torturing him in 2003 to get him to reveal where Saddam was hiding.

(Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny, Faris al-Mehdawi, Omar al-Ibadi and Aseel Kami, Ibon Villelabeitia)