Shias take reins of power

In a gathering marking the first of two days of mourning in the Shia commemoration ceremony of Ashura, thousands of Shias on Friday put on a show of force in central Baghdad, harangued by the man who led their winning religious ticket in the polls.

Sayyed Abdelaziz Hakim, the black-turbaned cleric who heads the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), addressed thousands of supporters before Friday prayers, at a gathering unthinkable two years ago.

He accused the police of having tortured to death three members of his party's officially disbanded militia, the Badr organisation.

"Three days ago, some criminals of the previous regime who were brought back to the police apparatus, committed an ignominious crime against three members of Badr organisation," he said.

The United Iraqi Alliance, grouping SCIRI and several other Shia religious parties, was blessed by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and swept to victory in the January 30 general elections.

Horse-trading for the top jobs has already started but, in a sign of the strains the election alliance, and the second-placed Kurds, could face in the future, little appears yet to have been decided.

Away from the politicians' conclaves, the violence that has scarred the country since the US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in April 2003, continued.

Twelve Iraqis and a US soldier have died in insurgent violence since Thursday evening, security sources said.

Most of the violence targeted Iraqi security forces north of Baghdad, while south of the capital the bodies of two kidnapped sons of Najaf's police chief were found.

"The bodies of Haidar and Baha al-Jazaeri were found at 10 am (0700 GMT) in Hindiya district, 10 kilometres (six miles) north of Karbala," a police source said. "The two bodies had their hands tied and were riddled with bullets."

Two Indonesian journalists were feared kidnapped by insurgents in western Iraq on Friday, disappearing from the notoriously dangerous road linking the Jordan and Iraqi capitals.