Iraq's parliament is to meet Thursday for only the second time since it was elected in December amid increasingly urgent calls from the international community to form a government and help quell raging violence.
As at least 19 people were killed in violence across the country, signs of a near-term solution to the four-month old political crisis were unseen as embattled Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari hardened his determination to become the next prime minister.
"I am the candidate and the alliance chose me," Jaafari told reporters, referring to the United Iraqi Alliance which has the largest number of seats in parliament.
Meanwhile, the international community stepped up pressure on the Iraqi leadership in its efforts to speed the political process.
US President George W. Bush renewed calls for the formation of a national unity government while the UN special envoy to Iraq held talks with Shia clerics in an attempt to break the impasse.
In violence on the ground, the Iraqi government reported a particularly brutal incident in which militants burst into classrooms and killed two teachers in separate incidents, as car bombings and shootings claimed the lives of at least 19 people.
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