After months of political haggling, Iraq's new government has been sworn in, but five ministries -- including the key defense and oil portfolios -- remain unfilled with only caretaker appointments.
Interim Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said the delay in filling the remaining posts -- which have been designated for Sunni Arabs -- was because of differences within their faction. He predicted this would be resolved in a few days.
29 ministers from Iraq's main religious and ethnic groups were sworn in Tuesday. They will write a permanent constitution and will guide the country to elections in December.
Meanwhile, in Mosul, a car bomb blast killed an Iraqi civilian. In Samarra, gunmen shot dead three policemen. And near Ramadi, 15 people, a dozen of them insurgents, were killed in a battle with Iraqi and coalition forces.
The U.S. military also reports that it has recovered the body of a pilot from one of two missing Marine jets that apparently crashed on Monday. Efforts to find a second missing pilot and the two planes continue.
Information for this report is provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.