Iraqi parliament approved Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's nominees for three key security portfolios on Thursday.

After the legislature's nod, Abdul Qadir Muhammed Jasim, a Sunni Arab, heads the defense ministry, Jawad al-Bolani, a Shiite, becomes the interior minister and Sherwan al-Waily, also a Shiite, leads the state ministry of national security.

The three ministers were then officially sworn in.

The three posts, considered key to curbing rampant violence in Iraq, had remained vacant when the government was sworn in on May 20, due to political hagglings inside the Shiite bloc and among the Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.

Maliki had been forced to delay the announcement of the names of the ministers for several times in the past.

The new security ministers will face an uphill battle in curbing rampant violence and restoring safety and order in Iraq.

Source: Xinhua