Iraqi Sunni leader sees no quick return to government

By Wisam Mohammed

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The head of Iraq's main Sunni Arab bloc said on Friday the chances of his group returning to government had become "more distant" after security forces detained his son and guards and confined him at home for days.

Adnan al-Dulaimi said the Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was "not serious" in negotiating the return of his Accordance Front, which pulled its members out of the cabinet in August, demanding more say over security policy.

"Our return to the government has become a more distant (possibility) than before," Dulaimi said by telephone from his home, where he returned on Thursday after spending four days at a hotel in central Baghdad under army protection.

Maliki has been trying to coax the Front back to the cabinet for months. One senior government official said last month Maliki would not wait forever, and hinted other Sunni Arab representatives might be sought to fill vacant cabinet seats.

Dulaimi came under close scrutiny last week when Iraqi security forces detonated a car bomb found near his office.

His son Mekki al-Dulaimi and dozens of bodyguards were subsequently detained, and the U.S. military said one of the guards had the keys to the bomb-rigged car.

Dulaimi, who has denied any wrongdoing, was himself confined to his house for several days.

The Accordance Front, which said Dulaimi had been under house arrest, boycotted parliament until he was allowed to leave his home and move to the hotel. The government had said Dulaimi was told to stay home for his own safety.

Dulaimi said his personal security detail may have been infiltrated by terrorists.

"All protection (forces) are infiltrated," he said. "I tried my best to purge my personal security of anybody I doubted but maybe there is someone whom I trusted who in reality was cooperating with terrorists," he said.

The Sunni Arab leader said he was now protected by guards of a senior parliamentary official but added that President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, would send guards on Saturday to protect him.

In parliament on Thursday, a Shi'ite lawmaker and Dulaimi shouted accusations at each other over last week's incident.

The public slanging match highlighted the deep divide between the Sunni Arab minority and the Shi'ite majority at a time when the United States is urging Iraqi politicians to capitalize on a big drop in violence to heal political rifts.

Asked about the effect of last week's events on attempts to reconcile Shi'ites and Sunni Arabs, Dulaimi said: "There is no real reconciliation. National reconciliation is only on paper."

(Writing by Alaa Shahine; editing by Dean Yates and Andrew Roche)