Shiite Arab leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari was sworn in as prime minister as Iraq's first democratically elected government took office Tuesday.
One by one, al-Jaafari and members of his Cabinet walked up to a podium and pledged to defend Iraq and its people. But a number of ministries -- including the key defense and oil industries -- remained in temporary hands.
After months of wrangling, al-Jaafari negotiated a Cabinet that so far includes 15 Shiite Arab ministers, seven Kurds, four Sunnis and one Christian. Two of four deputy prime ministers were also sworn in, a Shiite and a Kurd.
The much-awaited swearing-in ceremony took place in the Green Zone, a fortified compound in Baghdad which houses all the country's key institutions.
The new interim government will take over from Iyad Allawi's US-appointed administration and will be tasked with drafting a permanent constitution for Iraq and organizing fresh elections before the end of the year.
Meanwhile, the US military reported that it had found the body of an airman who went missing when contact was lost with two US jets overflying Iraq overnight.
NBC News, citing US navy officials, said earlier that the jets had been involved in a mid-air collision. Much of Iraq was engulfed in a fierce sandstorm late Monday and overnight.
Searching continued for the other crew member.
The military also announced the death of one of its troops in a bomb attack near Baghdad airport on Monday, as the death toll from a week of bloodshed continued to mount.
Insurgents have stepped up their attacks since Jaafari announced the partial Cabinet line-up on April 28, killing close to 150 people in five days, most of them Iraqi civilians.
A senior water ministry official was gunned down in southern Baghdad in broad daylight yesterday, while three policemen were killed in separate attacks north of the capital, security sources said.
US and Iraqi forces have cracked down on suspected insurgents in response to the fresh surge in attacks. Some 100 were captured in the Baghdad area on Monday.
The US military also announced yesterday that it had killed 12 insurgents with links to al-Qaeda's Iraq frontman, the Jordanian Islamic militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, near the Syrian border.
A six-year-old child was wounded in the operation, which involved air strikes, it said.
The violence dashed hopes that the announcement of a new Iraqi government, following general elections held on Jan. 30, would undermine the insurgency.
The polls were the first since former president Saddam Hussein was toppled two years ago but the deposed dictator's Sunni Arab minority community was kept away from polling stations by boycott calls and security threats.
The Sunni Arabs had received promises from the winning Shiite alliance of key posts in the government to counterbalance their under-representation in parliament.
But after Jaafari unveiled his partial line-up, Sunni leaders complained of tokenism and even threatened to quit the government altogether.
After a last-minute deal, Sunnis were to be handed the defence ministry along with at least five other portfolios and a post of deputy premier, a Sunni MP said.
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