Baghdad: Iraq's parliament voted to extend a state of emergency on Tuesday, while Britain's foreign secretary stressed that transferring control of Iraq's security from the US-led coalition to the government was the key.
The state of emergency has been in place for almost two years, and covers every region except for the autonomous Kurdish region in the north.
It grants security forces greater powers such as implementing curfews and making arrests without warrants.
In continued violence, insurgents and death squads killed at least 20 Iraqis in attacks in and around Baghdad on Tuesday, said police and medics.
In the bloodiest incident, rebels ambushed a police patrol with machine guns and rocket launchers north of the capital near the town of Baquba. Five officers were killed before the gang escaped, police said.
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, on her first trip to Iraq since taking up the foreign minister post in May, met with Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh and discussed the transfer of security control from the US-led coalition to Iraqi authorities.
"There has been responsibility that has been transferred already and we hope and believe that that is a process that will continue," said Beckett, adding it was "absolutely key that we see that responsibility being able to be exercised by the representatives of the elected government of Iraq."
British forces handed over control of the southern Muthana province to their Iraqi counterparts in July, and Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki announced last month that another southern province, Dhi Qar, would follow this month.
"I recognise that at the end of the day, security in this country must a prime responsibility for the Iraqi government and the Iraqi security services," said Saleh.
Over the past week, a disagreement has emerged over the handover of Iraq's armed forces command.
A highly anticipated ceremony marking the transfer had been scheduled for Saturday but was called off at the last minute.
The two sides still had "to complete some legal and protocol procedures that will lead to a complete understanding between the Iraqi government and the multinational troops," said the Defence Ministry.
On Monday, Ali Al Dabbagh, spokesman for Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, told The Associated Press that the ceremony would be held "if not the end of this week, early next week depending on the prime minister's schedule."
Handing over control from the coalition to Iraqi authorities is a key part of any eventual drawdown of international troops in the country.
