Iraq's main Sunni Arab political bloc will end its boycott of parliament, an official said today.
The return of the Accordance Front is likely to be a boost for Shia Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki at a time when he is under mounting US pressure to push through key laws aimed at reconciling majority Shias and minority Sunni Arabs.
The Accordance Front began the boycott in June to protest the ousting of one of its senior members, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, as parliament speaker.
It was not immediately clear if the bloc was also ending a similar boycott of cabinet meetings.
Washington has been urging Iraq for months to pass major laws aimed at drawing Sunni Arabs more firmly into the political process. Only one of the drafts has reached parliament.
Such laws would have little meaning for reconciliation if they were debated and passed without the 44 members of the Accordance Front in the 275-seat parliament.
A bloc of 30 parliamentarians loyal to fiery Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr also ended a boycott of parliament earlier this week after winning assurances from the government that sacred shrines would be better protected.