Tensions high as Shiites converge to bury slain religious leader.(Chicago Tribune)

Byline: Gary Marx and Christine Spolar

NAJAF, Iraq _ Hundreds of thousands of angry and grief-stricken Iraqis will converge on this holy city Tuesday to bury a revered religious leader in what also is likely to become a major test for the new Iraqi police force.

As the mourners traveled, Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council on Monday named a 25-member Cabinet while a new audiotape purportedly from Saddam Hussein denied involvement in Friday's bombing in Najaf that killed at least 90 people, including Shiite leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim.

The burial of al-Hakim in a city cemetery will cap a tumultuous four days that have shaken the fragile alliance between the U.S.-led coalition and Iraq's powerful Shiite community.

The assassination has raised calls among Iraqis for the United States to turn over more responsibility for security to local officials.

Already, members of the Iraqi Governing Council have said repeatedly that the roughly 37,000-member Iraqi police force _ along with the fledging Iraqi civil defense force _ are ready to assume greater law-enforcement responsibilities.

Adding to the chorus was Iraq's most prominent religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who said in a letter made public Saturday: "We blame the occupation forces for what is going on in Iraq. There is a lack of security. There is a lot of crime."