25 Killed in Explosion As Iraqi President is Named

At least 25 people were today killed in an explosion in Baghdad, only minutes after the Iraqi Governing Council had announced the country's new interim government.

The blast tore through the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, close to the Iraqi capital's heavily-guarded green zone.

There, the prime minister-designate, Ayad Allawi, formally announced the 26-member cabinet taking control from US-led authorities on June 30.

US soldiers were seen rushing to the scene of the explosion - believed to have been a car bomb - and shooting rang out.

The blast blew a huge crater into the ground at the entrance to the political offices. According to Reuters, a senior policeman at the scene said at least 25 people had been killed and many more injured.

The PUK is seen by many Iraqis as being close to the US, and its fighters supported US-led forces during last year's invasion of Iraq. Under the leadership of Jalal Talabani, the party represented one of the main anti-Saddam forces on Iraqi soil following the first Gulf war.

It was not immediately clear whether today's blast was connected to the announcement about the make-up of the new government.

Despite the nearby chaos, Mr Allawi calmly completed his official statement. He listed ministerial appointments in Arabic and English, adding that he would lay out his "vision" for the future of Iraq at a later date.

"Our celebration today in forming the new government is a very important step to forming the new Iraq," he said.

Alongside him on the platform was UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and the new president, Sheikh Ghazi Ajil al-Yawar, who was appointed after the US choice, former foreign minister Adnan Pachachi, turned down the post.

"We look forward to being granted full sovereignty through a [UN] security council resolution to enable us to build a free, democratic, independent, and unified homeland," Sheikh Ghazi said.

He last week criticised a draft UN resolution on Iraq's constitution for giving Iraqis too little control over US troops remaining in the country following the handover of power.

Iraq is also keen to scrap all international supervision of its oil revenues, imposed when Saddam was in power. The draft resolution proposed an international audit on the spending of those revenues.

Washington says its draft offers "full sovereignty", but countries including France, Russia and China have suggested that the proposals do not go far enough.

The ceremony - conducted against the blue backdrop of a large UN flag - was notable for the absence of any senior US personnel. Both Mr Allawi and Sheikh Ghazi praised the efforts of the UN in helping to form the new government.

Relations between the governing council, which will be dissolved before the new government is established on June 30, and the US have been tense during the last few days due to wrangling over the new president.

Council members angrily accused Paul Bremer, the US governor of Iraq, of trying to install Mr Pachachi against their wishes.

Earlier, sources said the US had warned that, if the council members voted for Sheikh Ghazi, it could refuse to recognise the choice.

The appointment of Sheikh Ghazi, a tribal leader, as head of state will be seen as a hard-won victory for Iraqis, even though the post is seen as being largely ceremonial. Real power will lie with the new prime minister.

The announcement broke the deadlock over the naming of the government, apparently held up at the request of the US amid embarrassing wrangling the presidency

Ibrahim al-Jaafari, of the Shia Muslim Dawa party, and Rowsch Shaways, speaker of parliament in the Kurdish autonomous region in Irbil, were named vice-presidents, Mr Brahimi said.

He confirmed that the presidency had initially been offered to Mr Pachachi, with the support of Sheikh Ghazi, but he had "declined for personal reasons".

One source cited by the Associated Press said Mr Pachachi had stepped aside because most of the governing council's 22 members had backed Sheikh Ghazi.

A graduate of the Petroleum and Minerals university in Saudi Arabia, and of Georgetown university, Washington, he took over the rotating presidency of the governing council following the assassination of its previous head, Izzedin Salim, last month.

In the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, Sheikh Ghazi's hometown, crowds swept into the streets to celebrate the news, cheering and firing weapons into the air. US soldiers there appealed for calm.

Mr Allawi, a US-backed Shia Muslim with military and CIA connections, was named as prime minister on Friday.

Elsewhere today, a roadside bomb exploded near a US military base in northern Iraq, killing 11 Iraqis and wounding more than 20 others. Two US 1st Infantry Division Soldiers were injured and evacuated to a combat hospital.

The blast happened outside the gates of the 1st Infantry Division's Summerall base in the town of Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad.