Shiites in Iraq choose incumbent al-Jaafari for prime minister

~ Also, a video allegedly shows British soldiers beating Iraqis; Blair vows probe.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Shiite lawmakers Sunday chose incumbent Ibrahim al-Jaafari to be Iraq's new prime minister, endorsing the physician and longtime exile for a second term by a single vote -- thanks in large part to support by a radical anti-U.S. faction.

Al-Jaafari's selection paves the way for the Shiite alliance to begin talks with parties representing Sunni Arabs, Kurds, secularists and others to form a broad-based government, which the U.S. hopes can calm the insurgency so American and other foreign troops can begin leaving.

Al-Jaafari edged out Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi during the balloting, largely thanks to support from followers of Muqtada al-Sadr, the cleric whose militia has staged two uprisings against U.S. forces since 2004.

Al-Jaafari, who spent years in exile in Iran and Britain, is virtually assured of the top job once the new parliament convenes and a new president is elected in the coming weeks. The constitution states that the president must appoint a prime minister from the largest bloc in parliament.

Shiites won 128 of the 275 seats in the December election for Iraq's first four-year term legislature since the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein. The alliance picked up two more when a small party joined after the vote.

However, would-be coalition partners expressed disappointment at the choice of al-Jaafari, with Kurds complaining they were sidelined in the outgoing government and Sunni Arabs pointing to his alleged failure to rein in Shiite-led security services accused of abuses against Sunnis.

"We have some reservations, not on the person of Dr. al-Jaafari, but on the performance of his government," said Naseer al-Ani, a Sunni Arab politician. "We believe that his government's performance on security and services was irresponsible."

President Jalal Talabani, a frequent critic of al-Jaafari, threatened to take his 53-seat Kurdish coalition out of the new government unless the Shiites offer a post to the secular party of ex-prime minister Ayad Allawi, whom key Shiite politicians strongly oppose.

"We would have preferred a change of faces so as not to see a repeat of some of the problems," said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish elder statesman.

Following his selection, al-Jaafari spoke in conciliatory tones about his Shiite rivals and about the need to build an inclusive government. He promised to form a government "based on the grand interests of Iraq."

"Today's victory is not that this one won or that one won," al-Jaafari said. "It is a victory of the (Shiite) alliance with its unity and cool head."

Iraqis approved the constitution in a referendum last October but many Sunni Arabs rejected it and demanded amendments on issues such as federalism and purges of former members of Saddam's Sunni-dominated party.

In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sought to downplay the influence of al-Sadr, telling ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" that there were "many forces" behind the choice of al-Jaafari.

Violence continued Sunday, with at least six people killed and 20 wounded in explosions and shootings in Baghdad and to the north. Insurgents fired a mortar into Baghdad's heavily guarded Green Zone, but there were no casualties.

Iraqi police reported an attack shortly before midnight against a U.S. convoy 30 miles north of Baghdad. There was no confirmation from U.S. forces.

Drive-by gunmen killed an Education Ministry official and three other people in separate shootings in Baghdad and north of the capital. A suicide bomber killed a woman and a policeman in Baghdad.

Police also found the bodies of at least five men who had been bound, repeatedly shot and dumped in different parts of Baghdad.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, meanwhile, promised a full investigation after British and Middle East TV stations aired a video purportedly showing British troops using batons and their fists to beat a group of young Iraqis in 2004.

The tape was obtained by the News of the World tabloid newspaper from a whistleblower it did not identify.

"We take seriously any allegations of mistreatment and those will be investigated very fully indeed," Blair said in South Africa.