The Shiite Political Council, a group representing 27 parties and formed after the U.S. invasion, met Sunday but had not decided on a front-runner for prime minister, said Abid Rahman, a member of the council.
Sunni Muslims, many of whom boycotted the elections, met separately Sunday in Baghdad.
One of the major challenges for the new government leaders will be providing security in the country and wiping out the insurgency in such hot spots as Mosul in the north, the Sunni Triangle to the west and north of the capital, and an area south of Baghdad known as the "triangle of death."
U.S. soldiers and Iraqi police in Baghdad detained 17 suspected insurgents and seized weapons in overnight and early morning raids Sunday, the military said. Also Sunday, the interim government said an Iraqi battalion captured the leader of a 100-man cell that smuggles insurgents into the city. Jaffar Sadaq Fette, 45, an Iranian-born Kurd, was captured Feb. 3 in Balad, the government said in a statement.
"He profits from bringing foreign terrorist fighters and terrorist weapons into Iraq," the statement said. "Fette has also played a significant role in transporting Iraqis across the border to be trained as terrorists and then bringing them back into the country to attack Iraqi security forces and the Iraqi government."
Braden, the Marine spokesman, said the operation in Ramadi was designed "to enhance security for the city as authority is transitioned between the interim Iraqi government and the Iraqi transitional government.
As the U.S. offensive progressed, students and teachers at a primary school in central Ramadi hovered in panic as artillery blasts shattered windows, the teachers said. Children cried and screamed for their parents.
"Why do they do this to us?" wailed Afaf Kamil, the headmistress of the school. "Would they do that if those children were Americans? What is our fault? If they want to fight, let them do it anywhere else, but not near the children."
Special correspondents Naseer Nouri, Bassam Sebti, Sahar Nageeb and Khalid Saffar contributed to this report.
