Iraqi govt formation faces new delay

After nearly three months of political haggling, officials had said that prime minister-designate Ibrahim Jaafari had finalised a deal late Tuesday on his proposed coalition government.

The latest delay in announcing the cabinet make-up illustrated the difficulties which Iraqi factions face in reaching agreement on a broad-based Shia, Sunni and Kurd alliance.

"Approval has been reached on the final list of names which will be submitted to the presidential board at 4 pm and on Thursday will be put before parliament to be ratified," Jawad Maliki, number two in Jaafari's Dawa party, told reporters.

"Some names which had been called into question were changed," he said, without giving details.

Maliki had earlier said that parliament would be called on to approve the government list on Wednesday.

The defence, interior and oil ministerial posts have proved to be sticking points in putting together a new cabinet.

Kurdish, Shia and Sunni factions have spent weeks arguing over how many seats their would hold in the cabinet and the number of portfolios appears to have grown to take account of some of their demands.

Meanwhile militants staging attacks in Iraq are as strong now as they were a year ago, America's top soldier has said.

Between 50 and 60 attacks are carried out each day, the same number as in 2004, according to Gen Richard Myers, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.

But he added it was too early to say if a recent surge in violence amounted to a concerted campaign, and insisted that US-backed forces were "winning".

The US Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, said the key to winning the insurgency was ensuring that the political process in Iraq took hold.

Speaking of the insurgents who have waged a campaign of violence since the invasion by coalition forces in 2003, Gen Myers said, "I think their capacity stays about the same. And where they are right now is where they were almost a year ago."

The past week in Iraq has seen a welter of attacks, with dozens dead in suicide bombs and a civilian helicopter brought down outside Baghdad.

"I think we're definitely winning - I think we've been winning for some time," he said.

The view from Washington is that success in Iraq now depends on the new government in Baghdad and whether or not it can entrench itself and become a cause that Iraqis will deem worth fighting for, our correspondent said.