BAGHDAD, Iraq – The incoming Iraqi prime minister struggled to find a Sunni Arab to run the key Defense Ministry in time to join Iraq’s first democratically elected government when it takes office today. A torrent of bloodshed – at least 140 killed in five days – followed the approval of a Cabinet that mostly shut out members of the disaffected Sunni minority.

Disputes persisted over the Defense Ministry yesterday after the man designated to be prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, filled six of the seven Cabinet seats left undecided last week, said an aide to Mr. al-Jaafari, Laith Kuba. The defense portfolio – in charge of some 70,000 soldiers and national guardsmen – is destined for a Sunni, part of an attempt to balance the conflicting demands of Iraq’s many religious and ethnic factions.

At least 23 Iraqis were killed yesterday, including eight soldiers cut down by a suicide attacker who blew up a truck at a checkpoint south of the capital, and six civilians caught in a car bombing that set fire to a Baghdad apartment building. A British soldier was also killed by a roadside bomb in the southern city of Amarah.

In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Annan issued a statement strongly condemning the “cruel and heartless” violence apparently aimed at undermining Iraq’s newly formed government.

The skyrocketing attacks are blamed on an insurgency believed largely made up of members of Iraq’s Sunni minority, who dominated for decades under Saddam Hussein but were excluded from meaningful positions in a partial new Cabinet announced Thursday.

Mr. al-Jaafari had promised to form a government that would win over Sunni moderates and reduce Sunni support for the insurgency. He offered them six ministries and a deputy premiership, but only four ministers have been approved so far by the National Assembly.

His initial choice for defense minister, the most important ministry destined for a Sunni, Saadon al-Dulaimi, was rejected by members of his Shiite dominated alliance because of suspected ties to Saddam’s Baath Party, which brutally repressed the majority Shiites and Kurds. Since then, rival Sunni factions have submitted a number of candidates for the job. Three Sunni lawmakers quit Mr. al-Jaafari’s alliance, complaining he should look within his own coalition first to fill Cabinet posts.

Mr. al-Jaafari wants to have all positions finalized before the new government is sworn in today, Mr. Kuba said. He declined to identify those already selected before they are presented to the interim National Assembly for approval.

Assuming there are no last-minute objections, the candidates must still be approved by President Talabani and his two vice presidents, and then submitted to the assembly. The swearing-in of the new government will likely go ahead even if there are still vacancies in the Cabinet.

On January 30, millions of Iraqis risked their lives to elect the Shiite dominated assembly, but many Sunnis boycotted the vote or stayed home for fear of attacks at the polls. After months of wrangling, Mr. al-Jaafari has drawn up a Cabinet that so far includes 15 Shiite Arab ministers, seven Kurds, four Sunnis, and one Christian. Two of four deputy prime ministers have also been named, a Shiite and a Kurd.

But even with Sunnis in the Cabinet, Iraqi insurgents have made clear there will be no letup in the unrelenting violence of recent weeks. The country’s most feared terror group, Al Qaeda in Iraq, has posted statements on the Internet saying any Iraqi government is a puppet of the American-led coalition and that it will attack any Sunnis who join it.

Meanwhile, Saddam’s chief lawyer, Ziad al-Khasawneh, accused unidentified Iranian-backed Iraqi politicians of plotting to assassinate the ousted leader in his prison cell. The Iraqi national security adviser, Mouwafak al-Rubaie, scoffed at the accusations, describing them as a ploy to have Saddam moved to another country to face an international court.

In yesterday’s violence, a suicide bomber exploded a truck at an Iraqi checkpoint near Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad, killing eight soldiers and wounding 20, an Iraqi army captain, Qassem Sharif, said.

Two car bombs in Baghdad killed at least nine more Iraqis. One exploded in an upscale shopping district in southern Baghdad and set fire to a six-story apartment building. Six civilians were killed and seven wounded in the explosion, which missed a police patrol, a police Lieutenant Colonel Salman Abdul Karim al-Fartosi said. As firefighters fought the blaze, thick black smoke and flames rose from the ground floor.

In eastern Baghdad, a car bomb exploded near a passport office, killing three Iraqis, including two policemen, and wounding six, three of them also policemen, said police Lieutenant Colonel Hassan Chalob.

An American military patrol and a top Iraqi security official narrowly escaped two other bombings, American and Iraqi officials said.

The British soldier from the 12th Mechanized Brigade died of injures inflicted by a roadside bomb in Amarah, 180 miles southeast of Baghdad. A total of 87 British troops have been killed in Iraq since the start of the war in 2003.

In northern Iraq, a suicide car bomb and another bomb went off in quick succession near an American patrol in the Mosul area, the U.S. military said. The coordinated attack killed at least two Iraqis and wounded 15, military spokesman Captain Mark Walter said. Hospital officials, however, said four Iraqis were killed and seven injured.

Two other bomb blasts in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, caused minor injuries to American soldiers, and a third one targeting Iraqi soldiers killed one civilian, Captain Walter said. Gunfire in another attack killed another civilian, he said.

Coalition forces have hit back in recent weeks, detaining suspected militants and confiscating hidden arms caches. American and Iraqi forces have detained 84 suspects in the Baghdad area since Sunday, the U.S. military said. An additional 52 suspects were detained yesterday in a joint operation in the Diyarah area, south of the capital, the military said.