BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's dominant Shiite-led alliance yesterday set a mid-March deadline to form a government, prodded to action by spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who demanded progress after more than a month of post-election haggling.

Members of the United Iraqi Alliance, the big winner in the Jan. 30 elections, met in central Baghdad and agreed to try to form a government and convene the 275-member National Assembly by March 15.

The Shiite-led alliance, which already has missed two target dates, won 140 seats in the assembly during the election and is hoping to get backing from the 75 seats held by Kurdish political parties. That would give it the required two-thirds majority to ensure control of top posts in the new government.

Sheik Fawaz al-Jarba, one of the few Sunni Arabs in the alliance, said after meeting al-Sistani in Najaf that the elderly cleric urged the group "to unite and to form the new government as soon as possible and not to delay this issue any longer, and that the interests of Iraq and Iraqis should be their first priority."

The alliance wants to name Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the leader of the conservative Islamic Dawa Party and one of the country's two current interim vice presidents, to the prime minister's post.

Kurd coalition says no to fundamentalist state

BAGHDAD — A powerful Kurdish coalition said yesterday that it would not back the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance in the race for prime minister without assurances that the alliance would not impose an Islamic fundamentalist state.

"Political Islam is a fact in our country. But I don't want Iraq to be turned into a religious, sectarian, fundamentalist state; this will not be accepted," said Barham Salih, deputy prime minister of Iraq and senior negotiator for the Kurdish bloc.

"That is why we are looking for real assurances that would prevent Iraq from turning into a sectarian and fundamentalist state. ... We reject religious control over government organizations, and this is a very important issue."

After finishing second in Iraq's Jan. 30 elections, the Kurds have emerged as potential kingmakers in negotiations over who will fill top government posts.

Islamic terror groups recruiting in Europe

BERLIN — Islamic terror groups are becoming increasingly active in Germany and coordinating with militants across Europe to recruit fighters to join the insurgency in Iraq, equipping them with fake passports, money and medical supplies, security officials say.

One of the best examples of the cross-continent cooperation involves an Algerian man arrested in Germany and now on trial in Italy for allegedly helping Muslims from Somalia, Egypt, Iraq and Morocco recruit some 200 militants from around Europe to fight in Iraq.

Many in Germany's Islamic communities have shown sympathy for Muslims fighting jihad, or holy war, in places such as Chechnya or Bosnia. But authorities say a growing number of sympathizers are taking an active role themselves since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

"The war in Iraq has somehow mobilized this scene so that people who before just had some sort of contact or sympathies with extremist groups now think they have to do something," said. Manfred Murck, deputy head of the Hamburg government agency that tracks extremists.

"It's a main topic that brings people to action that they otherwise might not have taken. In past years they were talking about jihad, but not doing anything."

In December, three suspected members of Ansar al-Islam were arrested in Berlin on charges of plotting to assassinate interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi during a visit to Berlin in what authorities believe was a spontaneous plan based on opportunity.

European anti-terrorist officials have estimated that perhaps a few hundred militants have gone to Iraq as a result of recruiting efforts on the Continent, mostly Muslims whose families immigrated from the Middle East or North Africa.

There's only sketchy evidence that any of the recruited radicals have returned to Europe from fighting in Iraq, but that remains a top fear, said Rolf Tophoven, an expert at the Essen-based Institute for Terrorism Research and Security Issues.

"If they do, they come back from Iraq trained, they know how to fight, they know how to do an ambush, how to make a bomb, and so on, and intelligence is afraid of these developments."

Gunmen kill imam with anti-U.S. ties

BAGHDAD — A Shiite imam associated with anti-America cleric Muqtada al-Sadr was shot and killed by gunmen Friday night as he drove to a mosque in the capital's volatile Doura neighborhood, officials said yesterday.

The cleric, Sheik Saad Kamil, was attacked by gunmen in two cars as he arrived at the Kadmenain Mosque, Interior Ministry officials said.

Kamil was struck five times in the chest and was taken to Yarmouk Hospital, where he died.

CNN broadcasts photos said to be of al-Zarqawi

ATLANTA — CNN yesterday broadcast what appeared to be new photographs of Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaida-linked militant believed responsible for many of the bombings, kidnappings and beheadings that have taken place in Iraq.

It was unclear when or where the photos were taken, but they showed a smiling, bearded man with closely cut hair who is believed to be al-Zarqawi.

The photos show the man either sitting alone against a white wall or seated next to other men.

The authenticity of the photos could not be verified.