Gunmen assassinated an Iraqi woman member of parliament yesterday in a fresh shock to politicians whose failure to form a government three months after elections were held 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.

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.

Also yesterday, Iraq's al-Qaida wing said it had killed two Interior Ministry officials in an ambush on their car in west Baghdad, according to an Internet statement.

The group said it had shot and killed Lieutenant Jihad La'eebee, his son, who was also an Interior Ministry official, and three of their bodyguards as they were driving their car.

The statement could not be immediately authenticated.

Extension of deadline urged

The captors of three Romanian journalists threatened to kill them yesterday unless Bucharest withdraws its troops.

Romania, a staunch US ally, asked the kidnappers to extend the deadline, but did not say whether it planned to pull out any of its 800 soldiers. The government has faced increasing pressure from the public and opposition parties as a result of the hostage crisis.

"Romanian authorities ask for the extension of the deadline set by the group holding the three Romanian citizens," the Romanian presidency said in a statement.

Prima TV reporter Marie Jeanne Ion, 32, cameraman Sorin Miscoci, 30, and Romania Libera daily journalist Ovidiu Ohanesian, 37, were snatched in Baghdad on March 28.

In the latest Al Jazeera video tape aired on Tuesday, they were shown handcuffed, sitting on the floor and guarded by armed masked men. They appeared haggard and distressed.

Al Jazeera said the journalists made a "final appeal" to Romanian President Traian Basescu, adding that the kidnappers had set 14:00 GMT yesterday as the deadline for killing them.

The deadline passed with no fresh word on their fate.

Cabinet proposal presented

Iraq's prime minister-designate yesterday submitted to the presidential council a proposal for a broad-based Cabinet, drawing from the country's main ethnic and religious groups.

The list will be presented to the 275-member National Assembly today, Prime Minister-designate Ibrahim al-Jaafari said at a news briefing.

Al-Jaafari did not release any of the names on the list, but said it included representatives of all the country's major groups, including Shi'ite and Sunni Arabs.

President Jalal Talabani must sign off on the proposal before the assembly votes on it. Talabani has already indicated he would not exercise his veto, and parliament Speaker Hajim al-Hassani told the assembly earlier yesterday they would be asked to vote on the new government the following day.

(China Daily April 28, 2005)