The Shiite Iraqi National List of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and the Sadrist Movement of Moqtada Sadr, as well as the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front, withdrew their ministers from the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki citing differences in the direction of Iraq's future, among other things.

Bassem Sherif with the Fadhila Party said it was responding to calls from Maliki and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to return to the government, Voices of Iraq reported.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Turkmen Front leader Riyadh Sari Kehya called on the Iraqi government to consider the force loyal to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdish Democratic Party, the Peshmerga, a militia.

An Iraqi national security directive said political parties that maintained their military wings would be barred from participation in the October provincial elections.

Talabani is also the secretary-general of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and Kurdish President Massoud al-Barzani heads the Kurdish Democratic Party.

The Iraqi Turkmen Front has long contested control of the northern Kirkuk province.