By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A Sunni Arab coalition Friday submitted its list of candidates for the December national election, joining other political factions in the race and signaling greater Sunni participation in a process Washington hopes will help speed the day when US soldiers can go home.
Also Friday, the US command announced that five more US service members have been killed in Iraq, indicating the challenges still facing the United States and its partners as Iraq approaches a decisive stage in its political development.
At least 16 coalitions as well as an undetermined number of parties and independents met the Friday deadline for filing their candidacies for the Dec. 15 election, when voters select a 275-member parliament to serve for four years.
It will be the first full-term parliament in Iraq since Saddam Hussein's regime collapsed after the US-led invasion of 2003.