Iraqi Shias are calling for early direct elections

The US and Iraq had asked the world body to send experts to investigate the chance of a vote by the end of June.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan agreed to the request, but said he had to be convinced the mission was safe.

The US-led coalition has been resisting pressure from Shia Muslims to hold direct elections before it transfers power to Iraqi leaders in June.

"I strongly hold to the idea that the most sustainable way forward would be one that came from the Iraqis themselves," Mr Annan said in a statement in Paris.

As soon as I have been persuaded that the CPA will take adequate measures to assure security, I will send a mission as requested Kofi Annan

The team would report to him on its return to New York, he said.

The UN pulled its international staff out of Iraq in October, following two suicide attacks against its headquarters in Baghdad.

A spokesman for the US-led coalition, Charles Heatly, said he welcomed the secretary general's statement of intent.

Meanwhile Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) called Mr Annan's decision "a positive one".

POWER TRANSFER SCHEDULE Feb 2004: Fundamental Law (provisional constitution) to be introduced May, 2004: Selection of Transitional National Assembly (TNA) June 2004: TNA to take power; Coalition Authority and Governing Council to dissolve March 2005: Constitutional Convention elected to draft new constitution Dec 2005: New constitution; elections and appointment of new government Q&A: Handing over power

But he said the council should agree a "united position".

Mr Annan's announcement came as the US administration said it was reviewing the intelligence it was using to justify the war.

The White House is standing by its decision to topple Saddam Hussein, despite the US failure to find illegal weapons stockpiles in Iraq.

In other developments:

• Two employees of US network CNN are killed in an ambush on the outskirts of Baghdad;

• A large explosion in Khaldiya, west of Baghdad, kills at least three US soldiers;

• UK Prime Minister Tony Blair prepares for the release of the crucial Hutton report investigating the death of weapons expert David Kelly, named as the suspected source of a BBC report claiming the government "sexed up" a dossier on the threat from Iraq.

Demonstrations

It has been more than a week since the US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, and an IGC delegation requested that a UN mission be sent to Iraq.

HAVE YOUR SAY Direct elections are a must for real democracy Tomi, Islamabad, Pakistan Send us your comments

The US-led Coalition Provisional Authority has been planning a series of caucus meetings to choose an Iraqi assembly which would then select a government.

This is opposed by the majority Shia community, who favour an elected transitional legislature.

Tens of thousands of Shias have demonstrated against the US plans.

But Iraq's leading Shia cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, on Friday urged his followers to halt mass protests against the US plans until the UN rules on the issue.

The US opposes early direct elections because of the security situation and absence of electoral rolls.