(AP)
Updated: 2007-08-02 21:32

In a video conference late Wednesday, President Bush prodded al-Maliki to unite rival factions and show some overdue political progress, the White House said.

The two leaders spoke for 45 minutes on a secure video link, part of a regular series of conversations on the war and Iraq's struggling democracy.

"The president emphasized that the Iraqi people and the American people need to see action - not just words - but need to see action on the political front," White House press secretary Tony Snow said. "The prime minister agreed."

The Accordance Front has 44 of parliament's 275 seats, and those politicians will continue in the legislature. The withdrawal of its six Cabinet ministers from the 14-month-old government is the second such action by a faction of al-Maliki's coalition.

Five Cabinet ministers loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr quit the government in April to protest al-Maliki's refusal to announce a timetable for the pullout of US forces from Iraq.

Altogether at least 142 Iraqis were killed or found dead on Wednesday, including 70 who died in three separate bombings in Baghdad.

On Thursday, the US military said American and Iraqi troops had killed seven suspects and captured 22 others in two days of raids across Iraq.

Among those targeted were emirs, or top-ranking figures, of al-Qaida in Iraq, the US military said. One emir was captured and another was killed Wednesday in separate operations in Mosul, it said. Another emir was captured a day later in Baghdad, it added.

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