BAGHDAD, 4 December 2003 — The head of the Iraqi Governing Council renewed his demand yesterday that a proposed transitional legislature should be elected by Iraqi voters, a move opposed by occupation officials who prefer that the new body be picked by regional caucuses.

“The assembly will be elected by the Iraqi people. This is what we are trying to achieve and that’s what, God willing, will happen,” said Abdel-Aziz Al-Hakim, a Shiite Muslim politician who heads the council’s rotating presidency for December.

Al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a key Shiite political party, has insisted that the legislature should be directly elected, rather than through the caucuses in Iraq’s 18 provinces as provided for in a Nov. 15 agreement between the council and Paul Bremer, the chief US administrator.

The Bush administration, faced with an escalating guerrilla war and mounting casualties among the occupation forces, sees the installation of a sovereign Iraqi government as a way to help defuse the rebellion.

Washington also considers that Shiite participation is essential for the success of any political process, since Shiites are believed to make up 60 percent of Iraq’s 25 million people.

Meanwhile, a massive US raid in a northern Iraqi village led to the arrests of 34 people and the confiscation of dozens of guns, the American military said yesterday. Residents accused soldiers of excessive force.

Initial reports said troops were hunting for Izzat Ibrahim, a top Saddam ally who is considered a key planner of recent attacks. US officials have posted a $10 million bounty for Ibrahim. They suspect he could also be working with the Al-Qaeda-linked militant group Ansar Al-Islam.

The US military said it detained 34 people and confiscated 70 small arms along with six rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

US soldiers arrested an Iraqi Republican Guard general and another man for their roles in anti-coalition “activities” in the flashpoint town of Fallujah, the US military said yesterday.

Brig. Gen. Daham Al-Mahemdi is “suspected of having indirect contact with Saddam Hussein and directing anti-coalition activities in Fallujah,” the US Central Command (Centcom) said in a press release.

No shots were fired and no soldiers injured during the mission early yesterday by paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division, the Centcom statement said.

Over the past 24 hours the 82nd Airborne also arrested Abu Bilal Janabi, suspected of financing anti-coalition activities in Fallujah, a coalition spokeswoman said earlier.

Troops also discovered a large cache of munitions in Khalidiyah, just outside Fallujah, she said.

The haul included 650 anti-tank mines, 400 anti-personnel mines and 280 rocket-propelled grenades.