U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney made a surprise visit to Baghdad in a new bid to press Iraqi leaders to double efforts to achieve reconciliation among rival factions.

During his visit, Cheney met Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Sunni and Shiite vice presidents, and other government and political leaders.

Cheney said that "we talked about a way ahead in terms of our mutual interests" and Iraq's leaders seemed to "recognize it's in their interests as well as ours to make progress on the political front."

Al-Maliki said he discussed with Cheney about challenges his country was facing and achievements that have been made.

"The meeting with the vice president paved a foundation for practical steps to support our efforts working on both the security front as well as the domestic political issues," he said.

Cheney also met the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, and the new U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, to learn the latest developments in Iraq.

Crocker told reporters that Cheney would request Iraqi lawmakers not to take the planned two-month summer holiday. Cheney also said that Iraqi lawmakers realized the sense of urgency.

Analysts said that Cheney's visits was at a critical time for Iraq. Months after the surge of U.S. troops, which was seen to buy time and space for Iraqi politicians to achieve reconciliation, there are still no tangible signs of progress.

Amid mounting domestic pressure, the Bush administration is increasingly eager to push Iraqi politicians to achieve a series of benchmarks, such as passing a new law dividing oil revenues, and allow members of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein's Baath party to hold government jobs.

Some people pointed out that Cheney's visit came days after U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates' visit, which also showed U.S. authorities' impatience.

Cheney's visit came on the same day as a suicide truck bomb struck the building of a Kurdish regional ministry in Iraq's northern city of Arbil, killing 20 people and injuring 70 others.

"A suicide bomber blew up a truck loaded with some 800 km of TNT on a busy main road outside the Kurdish regional Interior Ministry in the center of the city at about 8:00 a.m. (0400 GMT)," a source from the city police said, citing report from the Kurdish regional Health Ministry.

"Latest report said that 20 people were killed and 70 others injured, including interior ministry employees," the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Xinhua by telephone.

The powerful blast destroyed the front part of the ministry building and damaged nearby buildings, including the regional parliament building, according to the source.

Arbil, 350 km north of Baghdad, is the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan autonomous region. The deadly bombing shows that the ruthless violence is not contained in Baghdad and central Iraq, it can penetrate the Kurdish region, which has been relatively calm.

Source: Xinhua