Cheney presses Iraq

By Ibon Villelabeitia

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney pressed Iraq's leaders on Wednesday to move without delay to reach power-sharing accords that Washington says are vital to ending sectarian violence.

Cheney's unannounced visit to Iraq, part of a Middle East tour, signalled growing U.S. impatience at Iraq's slowness in passing laws on oil distribution and other key measures as U.S. military commanders build up troops to secure Baghdad.

Cheney said talks also centred on the crackdown in the capital, involving the deployment of 30,000 extra U.S. troops in what is seen as a last-ditch effort to stave off civil war between majority Shi'ites and once-dominant Sunni Arabs.

"I emphasised the importance of making progress on the issues before us, not only on the security issues but also on the political issues that are pending before the Iraqi government," Cheney said.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite, said his government was committed to restoring order, achieving national reconciliation and ensuring all Iraqis were able to share in the country's vast oil wealth.

Underscoring Iraq's huge security challenges, a suicide truck bomber killed 14 people and wounded 87 in Arbil, capital of the relatively peaceful Kurdish region in the north.

The self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, an al Qaeda-led militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack which it said was in retaliation for the participation of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Maliki's Baghdad security plan.

Near the city of Kirkuk, three Iraqi journalists and their driver were dragged from their car, tortured and shot dead.