However, two other Shiite lawmakers said al-Jaafari's Dawa party was leaning toward Jawad al-Maliki, a leading member of the party. The lawmakers spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are at a sensitive stage.

Both of them said, however, that al-Maliki's candidacy would complicate the issue because he may be unacceptable to groups outside the alliance due to his sectarian views. One of the lawmakers said Ali al-Deeb, who is also from Dawa, has more support among Shiites from other parties.

However, that assessment is not at all clear, and it will probably take a vote among the 130 Shiite parliament members to measure anyone's support.

Al-Jaafari's abrupt reversal ¡ª after weeks of insisting that he would never step aside ¡ª was an apparent breakthrough in the frustrating struggle to form a national unity government in Iraq. The United States hopes such a government will curb Iraq's slide toward anarchy and enable it to begin bringing home its 133,000 troops.

Sunni and Kurdish politicians blame the rise of sectarian tensions in recent weeks on al-Jaafari, who they say failed to rein in Shiite militias and Interior Ministry commandoes, accused by the Sunnis of harboring death squads. Those parties refused to join any government headed by al-Jaafari.

With al-Jaafari out of the way, Sunni and Kurdish politicians predicted parliament would speed up formation of a unity government.

In the latest violence Friday, a Shiite baker was killed in a drive-by shooting as he headed to work and the bullet-riddled bodies of two other Iraqis were found in the capital. The killings occurred in two areas of Baghdad with mixed populations of Shiites and Sunni Arabs.

The baker, Nadil Adel Ashor, was killed outside his home by unidentified gunmen in a speeding car in Dora, southern Baghdad, said police 1st Lt. Maitham Abdul-Razzaq. On Thursday, armed men broke into another bakery in Dora and killed two Shiite workers.

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