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Baghdad: raq's main Sunni bloc is close to rejoining the Shiite-led government, officials said yesterday, a move that would amount to a long-awaited political breakthrough.
Getting the Accordance Front to return to government after it quit nearly a year ago is widely seen as a key step in reconciling feuding factions after years of sectarian conflict. Sunni Arabs have little voice in the current Cabinet, which is dominated by Shiites and ethnic Kurds.
Asked if the Front was set to rejoin, spokesman Salim Al Jubouri said: "Yes. Many of our demands have been executed ... sharing of responsibility, the issuance of the Amnesty Law."
An Amnesty Law passed in February has freed many prisoners from the minority Sunni community.
Sunnis form the bulk of inmates after security forces detained thousands in security sweeps at the height of a Sunni insurgency.
Al Jubouri said the Front had put forward names for Cabinet posts to Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki.
Government spokesman Ali Al Dabbagh said Al Maliki would submit the names and their proposed ministries before a parliamentary vote, although he did not say when.
"There has been agreement with the Accordance Front that their share will be six ministerial posts, except the post of the Planning Ministry, which will be decided later," he said.
The Front pulled out of Al Maliki's Cabinet last August, demanding the release of mainly Sunni detainees and calling for a greater say in security matters.
The Front wanted the ministries of planning, culture, foreign affairs, higher education, women, and a post of deputy prime minister, as well as either the justice or transport ministries, Al Jubouri said. Some of these are vacant. The apparent political progress coincides with violence levels hovering at four-year lows in Iraq.
The number of civilians killed in June fell despite a few big bombings, government figures showed on Tuesday. Numbers from the Health Ministry showed 448 civilians were killed in June, from 505 in May. The May figure was down from 968 civilian deaths in April, a month when fighting spiralled between Shiite militias and security forces.
13 American's dead
Gen. David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, says 13 Americans have died of accidental electrocution in Iraq since September 2003 and a contractor has been ordered to inspect the facilities it maintains there for electrical safety hazards, a Pennsylvania senator said.
The military has acknowledged that 12 Americans have died in Iraq from accidental electrocution. Sen. Bob Casey said he learned last week from Petraeus that 10 soldiers, one Marine and two private contractors died. Casey said he was not given details on the 13th fatality.
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