The U.S. military said its troops foiled an ambush near Balad, 80 kilometres north of Baghdad, early Sunday, killing 17 suspected insurgents with gunfire and aerial attacks. No U.S. or Iraqi soldiers died in the fighting.

Al-Maliki has the support of the main Shiite parties that operate militias blamed for much of the recent violence in the capital, but Sunni insurgents and extremists from the group "al-Qaida in Iraq" consider him and his U.S.-backed government a primary target.