Top official, 26 others killed as new Cabinet takes oath in Iraq
Pakistan Times Foreign Desk

BAGHDAD (Iraq): A high-ranking offcial was gunned down in Baghdad Tuesday, while a firefight pitting US and Iraqi forces against insurgents left 15 dead in the restive western city of Ramadi, security sources said.

Separate attacks north of the capital killed another 11 Iraqis during the day, security sources said.

Ahmed Subeih Weiss, a senior official at the ministry of water resources, was shot dead by gunmen in the southern Baghdad district of Dura as he went to work, an interior ministry official said.

In Ramadi, US and Iraqi forces killed 12 insurgents during a firefight at a road checkpoint, the US military said.

Two civilians and an Iraqis soldier were also killed, and two US and two Iraqi soldiers wounded. In addition, US and Iraqi forces wounded four insurgents and detained five.

Three policemen were shot dead in separate attacks in the insurgent stronghold of Samarra, 125 kilometres (80 miles) north of Baghdad, police major Naef Hamid said.

Car Bomb

A car bomb killed a civilian and wounded four in the main northern city of Mosul, police and medics said.

An Iraqi soldier and a businessman working for the US military were killed in separate incidents in nearby Shurgat, police said.

An insurgent died when the bomb he was placing on a road north of Baghdad blew up prematurely, security sources said. A civilian died in a separate explosion nearby.

In the capital, a car bomb exploded near a police patrol in the western neighbourhood of Gazaliya, wounding a policeman and a civilian, Hamid said.

Another three bombs went off in the capital, wounding three policemen. Insurgents have stepped up their attacks in Baghdad since Thursday's announcement of a partial government line-up.

Security forces set up checkpoints and sealed off large areas of the capital Tuesday ahead of an official swearing-in ceremony for the full cabinet.

Partial Cabinet takes Oath

Meanwhile, Iraq's parliament was sworn in the first Iraqi government since elections were held in January.

Seven posts in Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari's cabinet, including the defence and oil ministries remain unfilled amid partisan haggling.

The ethnic make-up of the cabinet, the first democratically elected government in more than 50 years is considered to be crucial to building legitimacy.

Violence has surged since the partial cabinet was agreed last week. US-led forces were in action in several places around Iraq:

At least 15 people are killed in a battle between coalition forces and insurgents in Ramadi, including 12 militants, an Iraqi soldier and two Iraqi civilians.

The US military says its troops killed 12 insurgents at Qaim, near the Syrian border.

Mid-air Collision

A US marine pilot is killed and another is missing after a suspected mid-air collision between two US F/A-18 Hornet jets.

Seven positions in the new government remain unfilled. They were expected to fill the majority of these, including the defence ministry and one of the deputy prime ministerial posts, although many Sunnis did not take part in elections.

The hope still is that by bringing credible Sunni figures on board, the government may be able to start winning political ground away from the insurgents within the Sunni community.

A government spokesman saaid that attempts to govern from a fortified bunker in the midst of escalating terrorist attacks is not progress

Comprehensive Security Plan

While this is obviously going to be a gradual process, he adds, the swearing-in of the partial cabinet will at least allow the new government to focus on the task of pushing ahead with a comprehensive security plan.

Last Thursday, Jaafari announced a partial list, which was endorsed by the parliament by a large majority.

The seven posts left vacant are: oil minister, defence minister, electricity minister, industry minister, human rights minister and two deputy prime ministers.

Jaafari himself is acting defence minister, while Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Chalabi is acting oil minister.

The new Cabinet

Ibrahim Jaafari: Prime Minister

Ibrahim Jaafari, a 58-year-old physician, was spokesman for the Islamic Daawa Party, one of Iraq's oldest political parties. Born in Karbala in 1947, he was educated at Mosul university as a medical doctor. He lived in Iran and UK from the 1980s until the fall of Saddam Hussein.

When he was serving in the mainly ceremonial role of vice-president in the US-appointed interim regime, an opinion poll last year suggested Mr Jaafari was Iraq's most popular politician.

Jaafari is widely seen as a unifying figure, keen to bring Sunni Arabs into the democratic fold after their widespread absence from election polling stations.

Ahmed Chalabi: Deputy PM

Ahmed Chalabi's appointment as a deputy prime minister is something of a revival for a man once touted at the Pentagon as a future president of Iraq, but who fell dramatically from grace.

During 2004 the Shia politician saw his home and offices raided and an arrest warrant issued amid accusations of counterfeiting.

Mr Chalabi, who had the ear of many in Washington during the run-up to war, fell out with his former patrons as the invasion of Iraq turned to messy occupation. There were whispers from Washington that Chalabi, a Shia, had all along been duping the Americans by spying for the Iranians, which he has denied.

Ruz Nuri Shawis: Deputy PM

Before taking up the position of vice-president in the interim Iraqi government that was formed in June 2004, Shawis was president of the Kurdistan National Assembly, the Iraqi Kurdish parliament based in Irbil. He is a senior member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

Baqir Solagh: Interior Minister

Sometimes know as Bayan Jabr, he is a senior official of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (Sciri). A Shia Turkmen, Solagh ran Sciri's office in Damascus during the 1990s, and represented the council in Lebanon and Syria from his base in Beirut.

Hoshyar Zebari: Foreign Minister

Zebari was the foreign spokesman for the Kurdistan Democratic Party for more than 10 years. He frequently represented the KDP in meetings with US State Department officials throughout the 1990s.

He was born in 1953 in the Kurdish town of Aqrah, but grew up in the mainly Arab city of Mosul. He is a graduate of the University of Essex in the UK.

Barham Salih: Minister of Planning & Development

An official of President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan since 1998, Salih became prime minister of the PUK-led regional government in January 2001. He survived an assassination attempt at his home in April 2002.

He joined the Iraqi transitional government in June 2004 as deputy prime minister for security affairs.

Sami al-Mudhaffar: Higher Education Minister

One of the most senior biochemists in Iraq, Mudhaffar is also a former president of Baghdad University. He has been instrumental in promoting biochemistry and related subjects such as molecular biotechnology research. He has published more than 50 inventions and 250 scientific papers.

He was education minister in the transitional government.

Nisrin Barwari: Minister of Municipalities

A Kurd from Arbil, Ms Barwari is a close ally of Kurdistan Democratic Party leader Massoud Barzani. Born in 1967, she became a political prisoner at the age of 14 and fled Iraq after the 1991 Kurdish uprising. She worked for the UN in northern Iraq, including as head of the Centre for Human Settlements field office in 1997.

She received an MA at Harvard University in public administration in 1999, before becoming minister of reconstruction and development in the Kurdish regional government. She continues with the portfolio she took in the transitional government in September 2003.

Juwan Fouad Masum: Telecom Minister

Another PUK official, Masum has been a member of its political bureau since 1992, becoming publisher of its daily newspaper in 1999.

After the fall of Saddam Hussein, he became head of the committee preparing for the Iraqi National Conference which chose members of the interim National Assembly. He became speaker of the assembly in September 2004.

Ali Abdel Amir Allawi: Finance Minister

A Shia based in London until the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Allawi was once an adviser to the Arab Monetary Fund in Kuwait.

He became minister of trade in September 2003, and was given the first defence portfolio in the transitional government in April 2004.

Latif Rashid: Minister for Water

A former PUK official, Rashid took on his current portfolio as a member of the transitional government in September 2003.

Narmin Othman: Minister of Environment

Narmin Othman has been minister of state for women's affairs in the Iraqi transitional government since June 2004.

Other Ministers:

Jasim Mohammed Jaafar: Minister of Housing

Abdel Falah Hassan: Education Minister

Abdel Muttalib Mohammed Ali; Health Minister

Abdel Basit Karim Mawloud: Trade Minister

Ali al-Bahadili: Agriculture Minister

Abdel Hussein Shandal: Justice Minister

Idris Hadi: Minister of Labour

Salam al-Maliki: Transport Minister

Nuri Farhan al-Rawi: Culture Minister

Basimah Yusuf Butrus: Minister of Science & Technology

Suhaylah Abd-Jaafar: Minister of Displacement & Migration

Muslih Khadr al-Juburi: Acting Minister of Industry

Talib Aziz Zayni: Minister of Youth

Abd-al-Karim al-Anzi: Minister of State

Saad Nayif Mujhim al-Hardan: Minister of State

Ala Habib Kazim: Minister of State

Azhar Abdel Karim al-Shaikhli: Minister of State

Hashim al-Hashimi: Acting Minister of State

Safa al-Din Mohammed al-Safi: Minister of State●