Shiite Muslim pilgrims target of insurgent fire

Al-Jazeera television aired footage of four hostages with guns pointed at their heads.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Gunmen opened fire on more Shiite Muslim pilgrims making their way Wednesday to a major religious festival in southern Iraq, killing one person and fueling fears that insurgents may target the gathering that draws hundreds of thousands of people every year.
The latest ambush, near Mahaweel, about 35 miles south of Baghdad, also wounded two pilgrims, police Capt. Muthana al-Furati said. Attacks on pilgrims Monday killed four people, including two police officers guarding pilgrims.
Roads across Iraq were crowded with Shiites heading to the holy city of Karbala to celebrate the al-Arbaeen festival today. The holiday marks the end of a 40-day mourning period for one of Shiites' most important saints, the grandson of the prophet Mohammed, Imam Hussein, who was killed in a 7th century battle.
Wearing white coffin shrouds signaling their readiness for martyrdom, tens of thousands of supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who has led uprisings against the U.S.-led forces in Iraq last year, paraded through the streets of Karbala on the eve of the al-Arbaeen.
"We're the Mahdi Army. We came to you, oh Hussein," they chanted while snaking through the city. Some held photos of al-Sadr and waved swords, and others beat their chests with their fists in a sign of mourning.
Hostages
Also Wednesday, Al-Jazeera satellite television aired a tape said to show three kidnapped Romanian journalists and a fourth unidentified person, guns pointed at their heads. The station said the four were being held by an unidentified group and no demands were made. The tape's authenticity could not be verified.
The tape appeared a day after Romania's government, which has 800 soldiers in Iraq, said three journalists were abducted near their Baghdad hotel Monday. They were grabbed after interviewing interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, officials said.
Checkpoint violence
In northern Mosul, four insurgents opened fire at a U.S. checkpoint Wednesday and were killed by soldiers, police official Ahmed Mohamed Khalaf Al-Jibori said. The gunmen killed six Iraqis, hospital official Essam Abdul Wahed said.
The U.S. military said it had no information on the clash, but said three suspected insurgents were killed in a clash in Mosul after soldiers stopped a taxi that exploded, injuring five soldiers.
Also in Mosul, a gunman attacked a building of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, a leading Kurdish party, and wounded two guards before he was killed, said Abdul Al-Ghani Botani, a party official.
In Baghdad, lawmakers tried to come up with an agreement a day after negotiations to name a parliament speaker broke down amid shouting and finger-pointing.
"We have a political crisis that was obvious yesterday in the National Assembly," said Barham Salih, deputy prime minister in the current interim government.
Political front
A group of Sunni Arab leaders proposed legislator Meshaan al-Jubouri for speaker, an attempt to resolve a stalemate that has stalled the work of Iraq's first freely elected parliament in 50 years.
The meeting did not include all Sunni leaders, however, and it was unclear if lawmakers in other coalitions would accept the proposal.
Some officials of the Shiite clergy-led United Iraqi Alliance, which won 140 of the 275 seats in the National Assembly, opposed al-Jubouri. "He's unacceptable," said Ali al-Dabagh. "He does not represent all the Sunnis."
Leaders of the Shiite Arab and Kurd blocs want a Sunni to lead the new parliament, an effort to reach out to the Sunni community that was dominant under former dictator Saddam Hussein. The insurgency is believed dominated by Sunnis, and officials hope a broad-based government will weaken support for the rebels.
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