Iranian President Khatami, flanked by Iraqi Council member Chalabi, left, and Bahr Al-Ulloum, the current President of the Council

Suffering increasing casualties, the U.S. occupation authority, working with Iraq 's Interior Ministry, plans to improve border controls as part of a larger plan to boost security across the country.

And border issues would be on the agenda of a series of meetings between Governing Council head Mohammed Bahr Ulum and other Iraqi councilors with senior Iranian leaders in Tehran , officials said, according to AFP.

U.S. civil administrator Paul Bremer said in a statement that between 10 and 20 crossings from Iran would be slashed to just three - at Muntheriyah, Zurbatiyah and al-Shalamasha - while the number of border guard would be doubled to 16,000.

"Foreign terrorists are present in Iraq. The numbers are not known with precision, but recent attacks and their continuing presence underscores the importance of improving security at Iraq 's borders," Bremer said.

"That is why we are accelerating border security efforts. This program is the first stage in a multi-stage effort to address security problems exacerbated by Iraq 's porous borders."

A new identification process, dubbed PISCES, will also be used, he said.

As they enter Iraq , people will now be required to fill out entry forms and submit photographs to be downloaded into the PISCES database which will be used to track wanted individuals.

"We expect this process will increase security without unduly burdening legitimate travelers or commerce," Bremer said.

Leaders of the powerful Shiite Muslim community blamed U.S. forces for not policing the borders tightly enough after bombings at shrines in Baghdad and the holy city of Karbala on March 2 killed more than 170 people and wounded hundreds more.

"We expect these three border points along the Iraq-Iran border to be fully functioning points of entry within approximately six weeks," a senior occupation authority official said earlier, according to AFP.

 "These are part of our broader effort to more aggressively regulate and in some cases limit border traffic coming across the borders," he said.

The U.S. and Iraqi security forces are now feverishly preparing for another Shiite festival in the central city of Karbala next month.

Millions of people are expected to converge on the city for the Arbayin festival, marking the end of the 40-day mourning period for Imam Hussain, the Prophet Mohammad's grandson, whose death is marked on Ashura.

U.S. officials say "extremists and insurgents", backed by foreign fighters, have now replaced former members of the ousted Baath party and Saddam Hussein loyalists as the biggest security threat in Iraq .

In the wake of the attacks, Bremer pledged to beef up border security and said that 60 million dollars had been earmarked for that purpose.

The money was expected to be spent on increasing the Iraqi security presence on Iraq 's frontiers but a redeployment of troops to border areas was unlikely.

Political Hassle

Iraqis protest the interim code

Away from the violence, Bremer and a White House expert on political process, Robert Blackwill, were due to hold individual meetings with up to three members of Iraq 's interim Governing Council to discuss how to move forward after the signing of a temporary constitution last Monday.

They would consider "options for the next interim government which will be in place from the end of June," a senior occupation authority official said.

Council members say their immediate priorities are to fix the caretaker government and devise a system for direct elections, before overcoming a series of problems that have been raised with the content of the interim constitution.

Created under the watchful eye of the United States , the text has drawn heavy criticism from the spiritual leaders of Iraq 's powerful Shiite community as well as Shiite councilors and disenchanted members of the public.

At the heart of the problem lie Shiite political aspirations after decades of repression and Kurdish fears of losing autonomy, which until Saddam was ousted was guaranteed by U.S. warplanes after the 1991 Gulf War.

But under the interim law, which cannot be altered without a 75 percent parliamentary majority, voters in any three of Iraq 's 18 provinces can reject the permanent charter when it is drawn up. That gives the Kurds a veto power.

"If you were Iraqi, you would never accept it," Mohammad Abdallah, a 23-year-old student at Baghdad's Mustansiriya university, told AFP.

Over the past two days, thousands of Iraqis have taken to the streets to protest the U.S.-backed interim constitution.

Adding a more deadly element to the unrest, U.S. officials have warned that violent attacks by extremists who want to prevent what they term " Iraq 's transition to democracy" will increase as the date to the handover of sovereignty nears.