BAGHDAD, Iraq - A car bomb in a busy Mosul market and mortar rounds in Baghdad killed three Iraqis and wounded seven today, and the nation's leading Shiites moved closer to finalizing the makeup of a coalition to run next month's elections.

Allies of spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani were expected to make an announcement later today about the composition of a group of powerful Shiite political parties and independents, to be known as the United Iraqi Alliance, an official said.

The coalition was expected to include Iraq's two main Shiite parties, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution and the Dawa party, plus members of the movement of anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress also was expected to take part.

In renewed violence, two Iraqis were wounded after a car bomb exploded in eastern Mosul, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Paul Hastings said. Iraqi policeman Hassan Ahmed said the blast happened in a fruit and vegetable market.

Militants also fired multiple mortar rounds toward an Iraqi National Guard base and the nearby Italian Embassy in Baghdad's Waziriyah neighborhood. Police Lt. Hussein Ali said three civilians were killed and five wounded.

Hussain al-Shahristani, a member of the six-member committee drawing up the Shiite candidates list, said this week that half the slots were expected to go to independents and include members of "main Sunni tribes from northern Iraq and Mosul."

Prime Minister Ayad Allawi was expected to be absent from the ticket, which some fear risked dividing the Shiite vote. Al-Shahristani said Allawi's party "had been invited to take part in this alliance ... but they preferred to be on another list."

Shiites comprise 60 percent of Iraq's 26 million population, but they've had little political power, particularly under deposed leader Saddam Hussein, who belonged to the country's minority Sunni community.

Farid Ayar, spokesman of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, said the party of Sunni politician Adnan Pachachi, who supported the call for postponing the elections, was among the first to register after the sign-up process began Nov. 1.

He added, however, that the party - the Independent Democratic Movement - has yet to submit a candidates' list. Pachachi was not immediately available for comment.

The violence has raised concerns about the feasibility of the balloting to choose a 275-seat assembly, whose primary task will be drafting a permanent constitution for this overwhelmingly Muslim nation.

Al-Sistani has been working to unite Iraq's majority Shiites ahead of the vote to ensure victory, plus include representatives from Iraq's other diverse communities. The Iranian-born cleric is overseeing the work of top aides seeking to compile a 165-candidate list, which would be put to the voters nationwide.

In another play for post-election power, a senior Kurdish official said a Kurd should be made either president or prime minister following the polls.

Kurds are estimated to number between 15 percent and 20 percent of the population and have enjoyed regional self-rule in the north since 1991. Kurdish statehood aspirations have alarmed neighboring Turkey, Syria and Iran, which fear that granting Iraqi Kurds an ethnic enclave could incite separatist sentiments among Kurdish minorities within their own borders.

Iran, meanwhile, rejected accusations that it was trying to influence the vote in neighboring Iraq, saying the Iraqi people have made clear they won't take orders from abroad, state media reported.