US offers Iraq power transfer concessions

Meanwhile, the US military said Friday it had opened an investigation into reports of abuse of Iraqi detainees by US troops at a coalition detention facility.

Bremer's offer of modifications to a November 15 deal with the interim Iraqi Governing Council came after influential Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani threatened a wave of unrest unless his call for elections is heeded.

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"We're willing to consider refinements and that's something that we will be willing to discuss at the appropriate time," said Bremer, who holds talks on Monday with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Iraqi council members.

The once apolitical Sistani's bombshell came after thousands of Iraqi Shiites demonstrated support for the religious hierarchy's rejection of coalition plans for provincial caucuses to choose a provisional government.

Sistani will not hesitate to call strikes and a campaign of civil disobedience if the coalition goes ahead with plans to hand sovereignty to an unelected body in June, his representatives warned.

Backed by the "wrath of God", the cleric was willing to "continue this battle to the end", representative Sheikh Abdel Mahdi al-Karbalai said, adding that while Sistani was still ready to talk, an action plan was in place.

"(Sistani's) actions will be progressive: we will begin perhaps first with mass protests, then move on to a civil disobedience campaign, and then finally a general strike," Karbalai said.

Iraq's Shiite religious parties have found new voice following the capture of their longtime tormentor Saddam Hussein, piling pressure on the coalition to adopt a transition plan that reflects the community's demographic weight.

Both Bremer and the United Nations have warned Iraq lacks the basics for holding nationwide elections, with no electoral law in place and no population census on which to base an electoral register.

Washington hopes the forthcoming talks involving Bremer and the UN chief will persuade the world body to dispatch a team to Iraq to convince Sistani to back down, diplomats say.

The move would mark a bold step for the UN, which pulled staff out of Iraq after a series of deadly attacks against aid agencies including a truck bombing that killed its top envoy and 21 others in August.

Annan has indicated he is unwilling to send his personnel back into Iraq unless he is satisfied the security situation is improved and that the UN will be given a substantive role to play.

Security remains a major problem for the coalition despite claims by top generals that progress is being made. In the latest attack Friday, a teenage boy was killed when a bomb exploded in Baghdad as troops tried to defuse it.