BAGHDAD - IRAQ'S Cabinet on Sunday approved a security pact with the United States that will allow American forces to stay in Iraq for three years after their UN mandate expires at the end of the year.

The decision followed months of difficult negotiations and, pending parliamentary approval, will remove a major point of contention between the two allies. Parliament's deputy speaker, Khalid Al-Attiyah, said he expected the 275-member legislature to begin debating the document this week and vote on it by Nov 24.

Iraq-US military ties from invasion to SOFA BAGHDAD - THE Iraqi government on Sunday endorsed a controversial military pact with the United States, including a timetable for the complete withdrawal of American troops from the country by the end of 2011. The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) text will now go before parliament for approval, ending months of wrangling between Baghdad and Washington. ... more

Government spokesman Ali Al-Dabbagh said all but one of the 28 Cabinet ministers present in Sunday's meeting, in addition to Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, voted for the pact by a show of hands.

The Cabinet has 37 members and it was not immediately clear why some ministers stayed away. Several of them were believed to be travelling abroad.

'This is an important and positive step,' said US Embassy spokesman Adam Ereli.

Violence continues to plague parts of Iraq despite a dramatic improvement in security over the past year, and the attacks underscore the notion that Iraq's nascent security forces still need US backing to counter the insurgency.

Hours after the Cabinet approved the security pact, seven people died and seven were wounded in a suicide car bombing on Sunday at a police checkpoint in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, according to police Col. Ahmed Khalifa, chief of Jalula police station. The dead included one police officer.

The US military said the attack in Jalula occurred at a police station and that four police and six civilians died. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy in the reports, nor any indication that the attack was linked to the Cabinet vote.

Parliament is due to go into recess at the end of the month or in early December because of the Muslim Eid Al-Adha holiday, when scores of lawmakers travel to Saudi Arabia to perform the annual pilgrimage. Speaker Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani cancelled all leave for lawmakers and suspended foreign and out-of-town visits to ensure that the house secures a quorum for the security pact vote, al-Attiyah said.

'I'm optimistic that this agreement will be passed through the Council of Representatives (parliament),' spokesman Al-Dabbagh told Associated Press Television News. But he added: 'You cannot guarantee 100 per cent approval of anything.'

Neighboring Iran has bitterly opposed the pact on grounds that it enshrines the US military presence in Iraq and threatens its security and regional influence.

However, Iranian state television took a more nuanced position in a commentary on Sunday after it became clear that emboldened Iraqi leaders were going their own way on the pact.

'This is a victory for the al-Maliki government, which was able to apply its own viewpoints,' it said in a possible reference to American concessions to demands from Iraqi negotiators.

Still, it was unclear if the commentary represented a shift in Iranian government opinion about the pact following Iraqi Cabinet approval.

Shiite Iran maintains close relations with many of Iraq's Shiite parties, whose ministers voted in favor of the pact Sunday in what may be a signal that they are willing to balance their ties with the Americans and their longtime supporters in Tehran.

The Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni parties making up al-Maliki's government dominate parliament, and their lawmakers are expected to follow the example of their ministers.

Followers of Shiite leader Muqtada Al-Sadr protested Sunday's vote.

'This agreement hands Iraq over (to the United States) on a golden platter and for an indefinite period,' said Ahmed Al-Massoudi, spokesman for the 30-seat Sadrist bloc in parliament.

Mr Al-Sadr, whose militiamen fought US forces in three uprisings since 2003, has threatened to resume attacks on US forces if they don't immediately begin to withdraw from Iraq.

The Cabinet vote came a day after the country's most influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, indicated that he would not object to the pact if it is passed by a comfortable majority in parliament. That cleared a major hurdle to the agreement.

The final draft of the agreement is designed to meet Iraqi concerns over its sovereignty and its security needs as it continues to grapple with a diminished but persistent insurgency.

It provides for the departure of US forces from Iraq by the end of 2011 and gives Iraq the right to try US soldiers and defense contractors in the case of serious crimes committed off-duty and off-base. It also prohibits the US from using Iraqi territory to attack Iraq's neighbors, like Syria and Iran.

'The government wanted to make sure that the draft of the agreement safeguards the interests of Iraq and its people, with clear and complete timetables,' government spokesman Al-Dabbagh said after the Cabinet's session. 'It is not the ideal solution for the Iraqi side or the American side, but conditions on the ground dictated it.'

Proponents of the security pact with the Americans, including Mr Al-Maliki's interior and defense ministers, say a continued US military presence is needed until Iraq's security forces can take charge of security in the war-devastated nation.

Earlier on Sunday, a roadside bomb killed three people and wounded seven in Baghdad. The bomb hit a checkpoint belonging to US-backed fighters in a Sunni enclave in the north of the city, according to police and hospital officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to speak to the media.

Two of those killed were members of the local Awakening Council, or Sahwa, one of several names used to refer to the Sunni insurgents and tribesmen who revolted against Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Sahwa fighters have been targeted by Al-Qaeda militants since they changed sides in late 2006, with scores of their leaders assassinated and their checkpoints and headquarters bombed. -- AP