Baghdad: Iraqi parliament speaker Mahmud Mashhadani said today that he will resign, ending a political crisis that had thrown into doubt arrangements for a British troop presence into next year.

"I annouce that I'm resigning from my position as parliament speaker in the interests of the people," Mashhadani said in a speech to MPs.

Mashhadani s announcement came after a vote last week that was to provide British forces with a legal basis to remain in Iraq after a UN mandate expires on December 31 was suddenly shelved in a row between him and some MPs.

A group of 54 Kurdish and Shiite MPs called for speaker Mahmud Mashhadani to be fired after he described some lawmakers as "sons of dogs" during a heated session last week over the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush.

The first reading of a bill on the non-US forces last Wednesday took place amid uproar in parliament in the aftermath of the journalist's protest.

Mashhadani lost his temper in the fiery discussion, branding some MPs as "sons of dogs". He then announced his resignation, but later retracted it.

The feisty politician who spent several years behind bars during the regime of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein lashed out again yesterday.

"It is not you who decide my fate in Baghdad. Go back to Arbil," Mashhadani angrily told a Kurdish MP, according to one parliamentary source.

Today an apologetic Mashhadani said that he had been unable to control his anger.

Source : PTI