Iraqi parliament approves new partial Cabinet

BAGHDAD — Iraq's parliament officially named Haider Al Abadi the country's new prime minister late Monday and approved most of the candidates put forward for his Cabinet amid mounting pressure to form an inclusive government that can collectively cap the advance of Sunni militants.

Lawmakers approved all of the candidates proposed for the new government, with the exception of a few posts, namely the defence and interior ministers. Abadi requested an additional week to name them.

Outgoing prime minister Nouri Al Maliki, former prime minister Ayad Allawi and former speaker of parliament osama Al Nujeifi were given the largely ceremonial posts of vice president. Kurdish politician and former foreign minister Hoshiyar Zebari was named as one of three deputy prime ministers.

Maliki, Iraq’s prime minister for the past eight years, relinquished the post to his nominated replacement August 14, ending a political deadlock that has plunged the country into uncertainty as it fights a Sunni militant insurgency. Maliki had been struggling for weeks to stay on for a third four-year term as prime minister amid an attempt by opponents to push him out, accusing him of monopolising power and pursuing a fiercely pro-Shiite agenda that has alienated the Sunni minority.

The US and other countries have been pushing for a more representative government that will ease anger among Sunnis, who felt marginalised by Maliki’s administration, helping fuel the dramatic sweep by the Islamic State (IS) extremist group over much of northern and western Iraq since June. The insurgency seized Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, and routed Iraq’s beleaguered armed forces. Thousands of people have been killed and more than 1.5 million have been displaced by the violence.

The extremist IS’ lightning advance across much of northern and western Iraq has driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes since June, and prompted the US to launch aid operations and airstrikes on August 8 as the militants threatened religious minorities and the largely autonomous Kurdish region.

Meanwhile, a suicide bomber struck a meeting of Sunni tribal fighters and Iraqi security troops on Monday, killing 16.

In Monday’s attack, the bomber drove an explosives-laden Humvee, apparently seized from the Iraqi military, into the gathering of a major Sunni tribe, the Jabour, and security forces in Duluiyah, some 80 kilometres north of Baghdad, a police officer said.

The explosion killed 16 and wounded at least 55 people, said the officer. A health official confirmed the casualties. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media.

The town of Duluiyah fell briefly to the Sunni-dominated IS for few days in July but the Jabour tribesmen, who have aligned themselves with the Iraqi forces in the battle against the extremists, took it back.

After the suicide bombing, militants crossed a small river on Duluiyah’s outskirts and attacked the town, setting off fierce clashes.

In an online statement, the IS group claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack, saying two Saudi suicide bombers had targeted a police building and the gathering of Sunni militiamen. The authenticity of the statement could not be independently verified, but it was posted on a Twitter account frequently used by the militant group. Iraqi officials confirmed only one suicide attack.

The rampage by IS fighters has become Iraq’s worst crisis since the 2011 withdrawal of US troops. The militants’ summer offensive stunned Iraqi security forces and the military, which melted away and withdrew as IS fighters overran the northern cities of Mosul and Tikrit, as well as small towns and villages in their path.

Since then, Iraqi security forces and Shiite militias have been fighting against the militants with assistance from US air strikes, which contributed to some progress on the ground.