The Iraqi Cabinet signed off on a revised bill to share the country’s oil wealth today and sent it to parliament – a major step in reaching a long-delayed benchmark sought by the US to promote reconciliation between Iraq’s Sunnis and Shiites.

Iraqi’s parliament will begin will today debate a key oil law that the US is pressing Iraq to pass to boost reconciliation between the country’s Sunnis and Shiite communities.

A suicide truck bomber struck a police station in a mainly Sunni area of Baghdad today, killing at least 18 people, police said, as insurgents apparently step up their campaign against fellow Sunnis seen as collaborating with the US and the Iraqi government.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki lashed out at MPs today, ordering them to stop criticising his government and instead declare their loyalty to a unified Iraq - not their religious sects or political parties.

THE largest Sunni Arab bloc in Iraq’s parliament said yesterday it was suspending its participation in the legislature until a kidnapped colleague was released, dealing a blow to efforts to involve the disaffected minority in the political process.