Iraqi MPs finally approve key security ministers amid Islamic State advance

Iraq's parliament has finally approved new defence and interior ministers, completing the Iraqi government that will now try to push out Islamic State extremists controlling a third of the country.

Iraqi lawmakers approved Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's remaining cabinet nominees yesterday, with Khaled al-Obeidi, a Sunni lawmaker from Mosul, selected as defence minister by a vote of 175-85. He had served as an officer in Saddam Hussein's military and holds a PhD in political science.

Mohammed Salem al-Ghabban, a Shiite lawmaker with Abadi's State of Law political bloc, was approved as minister of interior by a 197-63 vote. He holds degrees from universities in both Tehran and London and is currently pursuing a PhD in political science in Baghdad. He was a long-time opponent of Saddam and was detained in 1979.

Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurdish politician and Iraq's long-serving foreign minister, was named minister of finance, having previously been voted in as deputy prime minister. Shiite lawmaker Adel Fahd al-Shirshab was named tourism minister, and Kurdish lawmaker Bayan Nouri was appointed minister of women's affairs.

Control over the two powerful security ministries has long been a source of tension among Iraq's feuding political factions.

The US and other allies have been pushing for a more representative government that can reach out to Sunnis, who felt marginalised by former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki. Sunni discontent is widely seen as having fuelled Islamic State's dramatic advances in Iraq since June, when it captured the country's second largest city, Mosul.