Blasts rocked Baghdad Sunday as Iraqi leaders met to pick an assembly to oversee their interim government, highlighting the problems the country faces on its stuttering road to democracy. The opening of the conference also came under the prospect of renewed fighting in the holy city of Najaf, where Shiite militiamen were in a standoff with US and Iraqi forces after the collapse of peace talks aimed at ending fighting that has killed hundreds and threatened to undermine the authority of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. Mehdi militia of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr roamed the streets and police chief told all media to leave the southern city by midday citing security concerns.

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