A female Iraqi MP has been shot dead by insurgents who stormed her house.

Lamia Abed Khadouri al-Sagri was murdered inside her own home in the Hay Aour neighborhood of eastern Baghdad, say police.

Mrs al-Sagri, who belonged to the Iraqi List party of the outgoing prime minister Iyad Allawi, was the first National Assembly member to be killed since the parliament was elected 12 weeks ago.

The killing happened hours before Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the Iraqi prime minister designate, announced that he was finally ready to form a Government. Security analysts have warned that insurgents have flourished in the three month period of uncertainty while politicians have wrangled about the division of power.

Mouwafak al-Rubaie, the Iraq National Security Adviser, confirmed that Mrs al-Sagri was killed inside her own home

"We believe it is politically motivated," he said. Security is being stepped up for other Iraqi MPs, he added.

Mr Al-Jaafari said he was proposing a 36-member Cabinet, with three deputy prime ministers: one Shia, one Kurd and one Sunni. Bickering over the different ministerial candidates continued until the last minute.

The Cabinet would have 17 Shia ministers, eight Kurds, six Sunnis and one Christian, fulfilling promises by Shia leaders to share power among ethnic and religious groups. Officials said at least two were women.

Mr Al-Jaafari did not release any of the names on the list, promising to reveal it to the National Assembly tomorrow, but said that it included representatives of all the country’s major groups, including Shias, Kurds and Sunni Arabs.

President Jalal Talabani’s three-member council must agree the proposal before the assembly votes on the new government, but Mr Talabani has already said he will not exercise his veto. Hajim al-Hassani, the parliamentary Speaker, assured the 275-member assembly that the vote would go ahead tomorrow.

A formal handover between Mr Allawi and his successor will take place soon, said Mr al-Jaafari said.

Mr Allawi’s Iraqi List party, which has 40 seats in the National Assembly, was not included in the new Cabinet. Shia leaders said they had given up trying to reconcile Mr Allawi’s demands with those of Sunni factions that could offer help in beginning talks with Sunni militants, who are believed to be the backbone of the insurgency.

Many Shias have long resented the secular Mr Allawi, accusing his outgoing administration of including former Baathists in the government and security forces.

Among the other last-minute points of contention was the winning Shia alliance’s opposition to some Sunni candidates who they believe were former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party, which brutally repressed Shias and Kurds.

Progress towards forming a government was also hindered by infighting within the United Iraqi Alliance over who would be oil minister, said Sami al-Askari, a Shiite lawmaker.

After a postelection lull in violence, insurgents have staged a series of well-coordinated attacks that have inflicted heavy casualties in recent weeks.

Gunmen in Baghdad also opened fire on the convoy of Brigadier General Jihad Luaibi, in charge of civil defence at the Interior Ministry, as he was on his way to work, wounding him and killing two of his bodyguards.

And Qassem Abdul Majid, a Shia cleric, was gunned down by unknown militants in the holy city of Najaf, about 100 miles south of Baghdad, as he drove to work with his wife, police said.

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