By Xinhua
Baghdad : Iraq's largest Sunni political bloc Wednesday said it has pulled out from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government over his failure to meet their demands.
"The Iraqi Accordance Front announces its withdrawal from Nuri al-Maliki's government," Rafie al-Issawi, a key member of the front told reporters in here.
He said that the front's six cabinet ministers would resign later in the day.
Last week, the Sunni Arab front gave Maliki's government a week to meet its demands which included a pardon for security detainees who are not charged with crimes, disband militias, allow the front a role in making decisions and a firm commitment to human rights.
"We have decided to withdraw from the government after it ignored our demands, especially, the pardon for security detainees not charged with crimes," Ibrahim Danoon, a front member told Xinhua.
Danoon held Maliki responsible for the deterioration of the political process in the war-torn country.
Earlier, officials in Maliki's government said that the Sunni front was trying to blackmail Maliki.
On Tuesday, Iraq's Kurdish president Jalal Talabani met top Sunni Arab politicians in a bid to save the Shiite-dominated government from possible collapse.
Talabani also warned of "negative consequences" on the country's national unity government if the Sunni ministers withdraw from the government.
In April, five more cabinet ministers loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr had also quit the government to protest al-Maliki's reluctance to announce a timetable for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq.