Iraq's largest Sunni Arab parliamentary bloc says it is close torejoining the Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Aspokesman for the Iraq Accordance Front Tuesday said his grouppresented Mr. Maliki with a list of at least five new candidates forCabinet posts. Parliament must now approve the list of candidates.

Thebloc pulled out of Iraq's national unity government last August, sayingthe Shi'ite-led administration was not making enough concessions to theSunni minority.

In other news Tuesday, Iraqi police say a series of attacks killed at least five people in eastern Diyala province.

Inone incident, gunmen targeted a checkpoint in a village south ofDiyala's capital, Baquba, and killed one member of a local U.S.-backedsecurity force, known as an Awakening Council.

Police say anexplosion later killed one man during the funeral procession for thecheckpoint victim. The blast also wounded at least seven other people,including three children and a policeman.

Separately, police say three members of a family died in a bomb blast near their home, south of Baquba.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, and Reuters.