BAGHDAD, May 21: Iraq’s prime minister on Sunday pledged a new drive to tackle insurgent violence as his government met on its first full day in office and at least 20 people were killed in a new wave of bloodshed.

Thirteen of the dead came in a suicide blast which ripped through a crowded Baghdad restaurant in the upmarket Karrada district, highlighting the importance of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s new security plans.

“We have a plan, we agreed on this plan even before this meeting, this plan will start with protecting Baghdad,” Mr Maliki vowed. “We will form special new force to secure Baghdad.”

Even before the inauguration of the new government, security officials acknowledged the existence of plans to unite the violence-plagued city’s disparate security bodies under a single command.

The prime minister stressed that the 37-member cabinet finally approved by MPs on Saturday after more than five months of coalition talks would need to do more than resort to strong-arm tactics if it were to rein in the insurgency raging in Sunni areas.

“We have to make extraordinary efforts because we suffer from terrorism and security problems and we have administrative and financial corruption,” Maliki said.

“We cannot confront terrorism only by using force, we need other measures besides security, we need national reconciliation.

“We have a new plan of reconciliation for Iraq to restore trust.”

The government is still without ministers of defence, interior or national security because of continuing disputes over who should be appointed but Mr Maliki said he expected the positions to be filled soon.

“I don’t think we need more than two or three days to nominate ministers of interior and defence,” he said.

US President George W. Bush said that the formation of Iraq’s new government would serve as a “devastating defeat” for Al Qaeda and other groups.

Police in Safwan on the border with Kuwait, arrested three Pakistanis smuggling more than 20 assault rifles as well as maps and cordless phones across the border.—AFP