Baghdad, Iraq ? Violence killed at least 34 people including a U.S. soldier as efforts to finish choosing the new Cabinet bogged down Monday in a web of conflicting interests.

Officials said Iraqi parties may look outside parliament to find candidates for some key posts.

One lawmaker said outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, a former Pentagon favorite, had been mentioned to head the Interior Ministry. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks are secret, acknowledged that Chalabi was a long shot.

The deadliest attack Monday occurred when a car bomb exploded near an Iraqi court in central Baghdad, killing five Iraqi civilians and wounding 10, police Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohammedawi said.

Two Iraqi policemen died and 12 people were wounded when another car bomb went off near a police patrol traveling down busy Palestine Street in eastern Baghdad, police Lt. Ahmed Qassim said.

The American soldier was killed when a roadside bomb struck a military convoy Monday southeast of Baghdad, according to a U.S. statement. The command did not specify the location, but Iraqi police reported a bombing damaged a U.S. convoy between the Shiite holy cities of Karbala and Najaf.

At least 33 American troops have been killed since April 22, when the new Iraqi government began to take shape with the selection of top leaders and the appointment of Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister-designate.

Al-Maliki, a Shiite, had hoped to complete the selection of his Cabinet today or Wednesday. That would mark the final step in the establishment of the new government of national unity, which U.S. officials hope can calm sectarian tensions, lure Sunni Arabs from the insurgency and enable American troops to go home.

However, key Shiite and Sunni lawmakers told The Associated Press Monday that it was unlikely al-Maliki would finish the task this week because of the need to balance the interests of the religiously and ethnically based parties.

Several lawmakers said the Shiite alliance and the Sunni bloc were searching for candidates with enough independence to satisfy the U.S. and the British, but who would also be acceptable to the Iraqi parties.

“In reality, the situation is being dictated by the Americans on the basis of electoral results, not the national interest,” Sunni politician Khalaf al-Ilyan said. “The distribution (of posts) is based on sects, Sunni, Kurdish, Shiite.”