BAGHDAD - The United Nations agreed yesterday to send a team to Iraq to help break the impasse over electing a new government, as the deaths of six more American soldiers in roadside bombings underscored concerns about security in the volatile nation.
A bomb that exploded south of Baghdad killed three U.S. soldiers and wounded three others yesterday night, hours after another bombing west of the capital killed three U.S. paratroopers and wounded one, the military said. In addition, two employees of the Cable News Network died in a shooting south of Baghdad.
Elsewhere, U.S. troops killed three suspected members of a guerrilla cell during raids yesterday in the central Iraqi town of Beiji, the Army said. A suspected car bomb also was discovered near coalition and Iraqi Governing Council offices.
The United States has cited the ongoing violence in arguing against demands by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani for the direct election of a provisional legislature, which in turn will select a government to take power by July 1.
Instead, Washington wants the lawmakers chosen in 18 regional caucuses. The Americans and the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council asked U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to send a team to determine whether an early election would be feasible.
In Paris, Annan said he believes the United Nations can play a constructive role in helping to break the impasse, and would send such a team to Iraq once I am satisfied that the (coalition) will provide adequate security arrangements.
Annan said the mission will solicit the views of Iraqis to find alternative ways to choose a provisional government. Shiite Muslim leaders have said al-Sistani wants to hear alternatives to the caucus plan if the U.N. team says it's not feasible to hold elections by the end of June.
The U.N. chief also said sending in blue helmet peacekeepers was not on the agenda, although he favored a multinational force for Iraq sometime in the future.
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