BAGHDAD - Iraq's Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki pledged to rein in sectarian violence and rally his divided nation behind a unity government that was inaugurated on Saturday as bomb attacks killed 24 people.
Ending months of deadlock, Maliki's cabinet was approved by a show of hands, minister by minister, after a turbulent start to the parliamentary session, when some minority Sunni leaders spoke out against the last-minute deal and several walked out.
Eleventh-hour battles over the key posts of interior and defense left those jobs vacant for now, filled respectively by Maliki, a tough-talking Shi'ite Islamist, and his Sunni deputy prime minister, Salam al-Zobaie.
The main Sunni Arab leadership, which controls the bulk of the Sunnis' 50-odd seats in the 275-member chamber, held firm after the walkout by the dissidents. Washington hopes a Sunni presence at last in a full, sovereign government can draw Saddam Hussein's once dominant minority away from revolt into politics.
"We will work within a framework that will preserve the unity of the Iraqi people," Maliki told parliament as he listed 34 policy priorities highlighting security and the economy.
Maliki said he will personally take care of security and improving services such as electricity and water, a deep source of frustration among Iraqis.
Sectarian wrangling has delayed formation of a government since an election in December. Faction fighting over cabinet jobs within the main groups, Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds, added to Maliki's difficulties since he was nominated a month ago.
President Jalal Talabani, who last month said he had held talks with less militant groups to lay down their arms, said the unity government was "good news for the Iraqi people" and "bad news for terrorists and murderers".
Huge Challengers
Maliki's government, Iraq's first full-term administration since Saddam Hussein was ousted, faces huge challenges.
Hundreds of people are being killed every month in Baghdad alone and tens of thousands have fled homes in fear of sectarian attacks since the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in February.
Sunni Islamists like al Qaeda's Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and other rebel groups from the minority Sunni community are waging a relentless campaign of violence.
Militias tied to political parties have tens of thousands of men under arms and Iraq's oil sector is crippled after years of war, international sanctions and more recently rebel sabotage.
Just hours before parliament sat in the heavily fortified Green Zone, protected by U.S. military firepower, a bomb killed at least 19 people in the poor Shi'ite Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad, blasting a spot where crowds of workers had gathered in the hope of being hired for day laboring jobs.
A further 58 people were wounded in a blast that was typical of attacks by Sunni Islamist groups like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al Qaeda in Iraq. Baghdad and, especially, the Shi'ite-dominated south of Iraq has also seen violence between Shi'ite factions.
Witnesses and police said the bomb appeared to have been planted in a spot where the attackers knew large crowds of men would gather shortly after dawn, hoping to be hired for a day's casual labor. Such spots have been targeted in the past.
"When will this stop? Where is the government?" one teenager sobbed as he stood amid pools of blood. A man beat his face with his hands as he hugged his dead brother lying on the floor.
Survivors rushed the wounded to hospital. A dozen bodies, their faces covered with cardboard, lay on the hospital garden.
In the Sunni town of Qaim, near the Syrian border, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-packed vest inside a police station killing five policemen and wounding 10, police said.
Iraqi police and troops, many drawn from the Shi'ite majority, are key to U.S. hopes of drawing down some of the 130,000 American troops still occupying Iraq.
"Historic Day"
Launching a crucial new phase in the U.S.-backed project to install democracy, Maliki struck a basic deal on Friday.
"It is an historic day for Iraq and all Iraqis," said Shi'ite deputy speaker Khalid al-Attiya. "For the first time a permanent national government is formed after the toppling of the regime. All Iraqis participate in this government."
The government can be sure of an enthusiastic welcome in Washington, where frustration with Iraq's sectarian and ethnic haggling has grown over the five months since an election hailed as a final step from Saddam Hussein's dictatorship to democracy.
Iraqis too, who turned out in large numbers to vote in December polls, have been growing impatient for a leadership that can address their massive problems -- security certainly, but also a devastated economy and poor basic public services.
"No matter who rules, he should lead us to the safe side. The country is devastated and we hope that the government could save what is left," Jabbar Isho Gorgis, a 42-year-old photographer in Baghdad told Reuters.
Feeds