Iraqiya ministers end cabinet boycott: PM spokesman

Ministers from the secular Iraqiya bloc on Tuesday ended a cabinet boycott that began in December amid a crisis with the Shiite-led government, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's spokesman said.

"The prime minister welcomed the return of the ministers to accomplish the work of the government," Ali Mussawi told AFP.

Iraqiya's MPs returned to parliament on January 31.

The bloc began a boycott of parliament and the cabinet in protest at Maliki's alleged centralisation of power. It has since called for Maliki to either respect a power-sharing deal or quit.

Authorities have charged Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, an Iraqiya member, with running a death squad.

He has been hiding out in the autonomous Kurdistan region in north Iraq, and authorities there have so far declined to have them over.

The prime minister, a Shiite, has also said his Sunni deputy Saleh al-Mutlak should be sacked after the latter said that Maliki was "worse than Saddam Hussein."