Shiite leaders from the powerful United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) declined to decide on the fate of Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, who has been urged to step down by Kurds and Sunnis.
According to AFP, the alliance leaders met for about two hours but failed to decide on whether or not to replace Jaafari. "The meeting has ended," said Bassem Sharif, spokesman of the Fadhila party, one of the members of the Shiite alliance. He said the "leaders will meet again Wednesday". "Their report was heard," he said.
The Tuesday meeting was also aimed at ending the almost four months of political deadlock in Iraq since legislative elections were held in mid-December.
In violent incidents, police on Tuesday found five unidentified corpses and the beheaded body of an Iraqi soldier in two towns south of Baghdad. The body of an Iranian woman was also found with bullet wounds in the city of Baquba, northeast of the capital.
