BAGHDAD - Iraqi lawmakers Thursday approved Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari's cabinet after weeks of damaging political deadlock, to give the country its first democratically-elected government in half a century.
At least 17 Iraqis were killed in fresh violence, but the incoming administration is hoping the political breakthrough would undermine the insurgency, which has been stepped up in recent weeks.
Sunni Arab leaders expressed their disappointment over the partial line-up and warned a fresh political crisis loomed if the demands of the minority were not met.
Several key posts, including the oil and defence portfolios, have yet to be allocated but the premier insisted that all major hurdles had been cleared and that a full 37-member cabinet list would be presented within days.
"Today, we face the huge task of trying to reach the stage of elections," Jaafari said, referring to the new legislative elections scheduled for December.
But Vice President Ghazi al-Yawar, a Sunni tribal leader, expressed frustration that some ministries were left vacant and warned that Sunni ministers could step down if his minority community did not obtain more posts.
"It's simple and easy, if they (Shiites) fail to satisfy the Sunni Arabs .... then I think the Sunnis might simply withdraw their candidates" from the government, he told reporters.
At the same time, Abdel Aziz Hakim, the Shiite cleric who heads the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), urged the new government to crack down on insurgents and former regime elements.
"We want the government to commit to strongly fighting terrorism and to getting rid of all Saddamist criminals," he told parliament.
Politial infighting has dogged the negotiations to form a government since millions turned out for the landmark January 30 elections despite the threat of violence.
An overwhelming majority of 180 MPs out of the 185 present voted in favour the 37-member cabinet submitted by the Shiite leader during a special session of the national assembly.
The cabinet consists of Jaafari, four deputy premiers representing each of the main ethnic and religious communities, and 32 ministers, and will run the country until the elections planned for December. Six women are in the cabinet.
Two of the deputy premiers have yet to be named, while five portfolios will be filled on a temporary basis until an agreement is reached.
The most significant ministries yet to be attributed are the defence portfolio, which is destined for a Sunni politician but will temporarily be held by Jaafari, and the oil portfolio, which Shiite politician Ahmed Chalabi will fill in the meantime.
Jaafari's announcement came as former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was celebrating his 68th birthday in US custody, said to be in good health and spirits.
His former ruling Sunni minority was granted a higher proportion of portfolios than its seats in parliament would warrant, in a bid to correct the balance of power following dismal Sunni participation in the January elections.
Handing the defence portfolio to a Sunni is expected to ease Sunni fears of a witch hunt against former regime members and under-representation in the Iraqi forces.
Observers also hope this will undermine the insurgency, which had appeared to take advantage of the ongoing political haggling to step up its attacks.
On Thursday, however the attacks continued.
A major general who worked as an intelligence adviser in the interior ministry was killed on his way to work in Baghdad and a police lieutenant colonel was shot dead in a separate attack in the capital.
Six Iraqi soldiers and five civilians were also killed in a string of attacks in the restive Sunni areas north of Baghdad, security sources said.
One of them was a car bomb in Saddam's home town of Tikrit that also wounded three US soldiers.
Four civilians were killed and 20 others wounded in a rocket attack in the Shiite majority town of Musayyeb, south of Baghdad, police and medical sources said.
Meanwhile the Romanian presidency said late Wednesday that three Romanian journalists held hostage in Iraq were still alive after the deadline set by their kidnappers for Bucharest to withdraw its troops expired.
The Iraqi Islamic Party, the country's dominant Sunni political movement, called on the kidnappers to release the three journalists.
In Britain, Prime Minister Tony Blair was enmeshed in a new political crisis over Iraq, with a general election only a week away.
On Thursday, he bowed to pressure to make public the full text of the secret advice he received on the legality of the Iraq war.
For months, he had refused to divulge the document but his about-face came a day after excerpts of the briefing were leaked by the media.

04/28/2005 14:33 GMT