Iraq assembly chooses Sunni speaker
Members move toward selecting new government
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 National Assembly elects Sunni Muslim as speaker.
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq's transitional National Assembly moved toward forming a new government Sunday by electing a Sunni Muslim as speaker, and a Kurd and Shiite as deputy speakers.
The new speaker is Hajim al-Hassani, the minister of industry in Iraq's interim government.
Assembly members chose Kurdish politician Aref Tayfour and Hussein al-Shahrastani, a Shiite and member of the United Iraqi Alliance, as deputies.
The assembly failed to select a speaker in its first two meetings. The majority-Shiite United Iraqi Alliance and the Kurdish Alliance, which respectively placed first and second in Iraq's election, supported giving the speaker's post to a Sunni to give the group a larger role in government.
Sunnis, though, were not able to agree on a candidate until Sunday morning.
Last week, acrimony among assembly members heightened when interim President Ghazi al-Yawar, a Sunni, declined the blocs' invitation to the speaker post. (Full story)
The Sunnis are a minority group in Iraq that held power under ousted leader Saddam Hussein. Most stayed away from polling places during the election. Much of the insurgency is taking place in the so-called Sunni Triangle, west of Baghdad.
With the selection of the assembly leaders, the path is clear for the body to name Iraq's new president, widely expected to be Kurdish Alliance member Jalal Talabani. After that, the president can name a prime minister, which would clear the way for the remainder of the government to be nominated and voted on.
Other developments
Two car bombs detonated Sunday in separate attacks in the northern city of Mosul, killing an Iraqi civilian and wounding five others, health department and police officials said. Both attacks targeted U.S. military convoys, police said.Two U.S. troops were killed this weekend. A soldier assigned to the Army's Task Force Liberty died Sunday morning when a roadside bomb went off near Beiji, about 25 miles north of Baghdad, the task force announced. The soldier's name was not released. A U.S. Marine died Saturday in an explosion during combat in Haditha, about 150 miles west of Baghdad, the military announced. The Marine was part of the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force. The area is known as a stronghold for the insurgency against U.S. and Iraqi interim government forces. The total number of U.S. dead in Iraq now stands at 1,537. An attack on Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad left 44 soldiers and 12 inmates injured Saturday, military spokesman 1st Lt. Adam Rondeau said. An estimated 40 to 60 insurgents attacked the prison, firing rocket-propelled grenades and setting off two car bombs, Rondeau said. U.S. troops at the prison responded, and the resulting gunfight lasted about 40 minutes. No prisoners escaped. (Full story) 
