BAGHDAD, March 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Iraq's various parties said Sunday they failed to hammer out their differences before the first parliament meeting on Wednesday, crashing the hope to form anew government in the war-ravaged country rapidly.

    Kurdish leaders are insisting on changes to a draft agreement setting out the terms for an alliance with the Shiite side.

    Iraqi Deputy President Rowsch Shways said talks between the Shiite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance and the Kurds would resume after parliament's opening session.

    "The talks will continue and there are some important points that deserve more discussion," said Fuad Masoum, a member of the Kurdish joint coalition that ran in the Jan. 30 elections, in the northern city of Arbil.

    "The special character of this period we are entering necessitates the participation of different forces in the government, not just two or three," he added.

    But some of his party's members were less optimistic about the talks, saying the negotiations have come to a dead end.

    The Shiite representatives said they did not want to speculate on the latest twist with the Kurds.

    The two sides announced earlier they had reached an agreement about the new government.

    The Kurds agreed to support the alliance's candidate for prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari. In exchange, the Shiite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance would back Jalal Talabani as president.

    As the negotiations dragged on, two Iraqi soldiers were killed when a time bomb was detonated north of Baghdad on Sunday morning,said the police.

    The bomb exploded at around 8:00 a.m. (0500 GMT) at a checkpoint manned by the Iraqi National Guards near the US military base in Siniyah west of Baiji, 200 km north of Baghdad, police officer Mohammed al-Hamdani told Xinhua.

    The explosion resulted in the death of two soldiers and the injury of three others who were then hospitalized.

    Insurgents have been increasingly targeting the US-trained Iraqi forces, which are accused of collaborating with the coalition forces.

    Meanwhile, two US security contractors were killed in a roadside bomb attack in Iraq, the US embassy said Sunday.

    The two from Blackwater security company were killed Saturday afternoon on their way to Hilla, some 100 km south of Baghdad, an embassy spokesman said. A third contractor accompanying them was also wounded in the bombing.

    It happened around 2:00 p.m. (1100 GMT) and the US employees were killed and wounded by an improvised explosive device, added the spokesman.

    About 209 foreign contractors have reportedly been killed in Iraq as insurgents have frequently targeted foreign contractors who are accused of helping the US invasion.

    Also on Sunday, the US military said US-led multinational forces and Iraqi security forces have detained 30 suspects in Iraq's northern city of Mosul.

    The operation followed the deadly attack late Thursday when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive-laden belt among a large crowd of Shiite Muslims participating in a funeral ceremony, killing 50 civilians and injuring 80 others.

    A US soldier was killed in Mosul by "small arms fire" on Friday,said another US statement on Sunday, without disclosing more details concerning the attack or the task the soldier was carryingout.

    Five civilians were wounded Sunday in Mosul when a US military helicopter opened fire in response to gun shots from rebels, the US military said. Enditem