Insurgents fired mortars at a meeting where Iraqi leaders met to pick an interim national assembly yesterday, killing at least one in a brazen attack showing the problems the country faces on its path to democracy. The Interior Ministry said three mortar bombs hit a taxi and bus station on the edge of the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, a few hundred metres away from the conference centre, wounding 17 others.

The three-day conference, attended by 1,300 delegates, was not affected and sessions proceeded as planned, although many delegates were startled as windows shook. The attack, despite massive security, curfews around the zone, checkpoints and blocked streets illustrates Iraq?s nightmarish security as politicians and religious leaders try to plot the country?s stuttering road to democracy.

Boycotts from key players

The Health Ministry said one person was killed and 17 hurt. Clashes also broke out between police and gunmen in Haifa street in central Baghdad. There was no word of casualties. The opening of the conference came amid sporadic fighting in the holy city of Najaf between Shi?ite militiamen and combined US and Iraqi forces after the collapse of peace talks on Saturday.

Five blasts echoed from near Najaf?s holy sites after midday, but there were no signs U.S. and Iraqi forces had launched an all-out offensive against militia loyal to radical Shi?ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. U.S. tanks were seen moving in the area.

The failed peace talks had aimed to end 10 days of fighting that has killed hundreds and threatened to undermine the authority of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. Police chief Ghaleb al-Jazaeri earlier called a news conference and threatened to arrest local staff of all media outlets if both Iraqi and foreign staff did not leave Najaf. He did not elaborate.

The political and religious leaders gathered for the conference in Baghdad will choose a 100-member assembly, or national council, to oversee the interim government until elections are held in January. ?Your presence here today is the biggest challenge to the forces of darkness that want to tear this country apart. This is not the end of the road, it is the first step on the way to democracy,? Allawi said in opening remarks.

The conference has been beset by boycotts from key players such as Sadr and the Muslim Clerics Association, an influential grouping of Sunni religious leaders. Some Shi?ite leaders threatened to withdraw from the conference because of the fighting in Najaf.

The conference was due to open in late July but was delayed after the United Nations demanded more time for preparations. Some delegates have accused the government of stacking the slate with Allawi supporters.

?The political parties in power now have the overwhelming majority of delegates. They left no room for independents?, said Mohammed Bahr al-Uloum, a leading Shi?ite cleric and a former president of the now defunct Iraqi Governing Council.

Government officials have said Iraqi and U.S. forces would resume military operations against the Mehdi Army in Najaf. Sadr has vowed to fight to the death. The fighting in Najaf has spread to seven other Shi?ite cities in southern and central Iraq.

Until the sporadic fighting yesterday, an uneasy truce had held since Friday, after US troops and tanks loosened their noose around the Imam Ali Mosque and the vast ancient cemetery.

Thousands of protesters from other parts of southern Iraq have streamed to Najaf and joined Sadr in the mosque, promising to act as human shields should an attack on the holiest Shi?ite Islamic site in Iraq take place.

Spectre of violence

Iraq has said only local forces would enter the shrine. Some 2,000 U.S. servicemen and 1,800 Iraqi security men are deployed around Najaf, a city of 600,000 south of Baghdad.

Iraqi officials have insisted that problems getting the political conference off the ground would not mean January?s landmark elections would also be delayed, even though the spectre of violence hangs over the polls.

The conference brings together delegates from across Iraq, attempting to represent the country?s political parties, non-governmental groups, religious and tribal bodies.

Once chosen, the national council will have the power to veto legislation with a two-thirds majority, approve Iraq?s 2005 budget, and appoint a new prime minister or president should either resign or die in office. Allawi has said the political process was open to all.

But Sadr, buoyed by growing public support even from Iraqis who oppose his radical views, has been in no mood to cut a deal. U.S. forces say they have killed more than 360 Sadr fighters so far in Najaf. Sadr?s spokesmen say far fewer have died in the second rebellion by the militia in four months.

Dean YATES