BAGHDAD, Iraq - The interim National Assembly approved a partial Cabinet on today, breaking months of deadlock and political wrangling. But disputes remained over key ministry positions and two deputy prime minister slots.

The legislators approved a list of 27 ministers and five acting ministers, ushering in Iraq's first elected government since the fall of Saddam Hussein. The Cabinet was approved by 180 lawmakers out of the 185 present in the 275-member parliament, Speaker Hajim al-Hassani announced to applause.

Prime Minister-designate Ibrahim al-Jaafari submitted a Cabinet that includes members of Iraq's main Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions.

But Al-Jaafari himself, a Shiite, will be acting defense minister, a position that was supposed to go to a Sunni Arab, and disputes remained over two deputy prime minister slots and the defense, oil, electricity, industry and human rights ministries.

Ahmad Chalabi, a former Pentagon favorite from al-Jaafari's Shiite-dominated alliance, will be one of four deputy prime ministers and acting oil minister. Kurdish official and former Vice President Rowsch Nouri Shaways will be another deputy and acting electricity minister.

Al-Jaafari has struggled to reconcile the competing demands of Iraq's myriad factions since Jan. 30 elections.

Shiite leaders rejected his initial choices for a Sunni deputy prime minister and defense minister because of suspicions they had ties to Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, which brutally repressed Iraqi's majority Shiites and Kurds.

Al-Jaafari also faced infighting within his United Iraqi Alliance, the largest bloc in parliament, over the oil and electricity portfolios.

Lawmakers earlier said the Cabinet would include 17 Shiite Arab ministers, eight Kurds, six Sunnis and a Christian. Among them are six women, responsible for seven portfolios, according to today's announcement.

President Jalal Talabani and his two vice presidents signed off on the list before today's historic vote. A handover between outgoing Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and al-Jaafari will take place within days, the incoming premier told reporters Wednesday.

"The Iraqis will find that this government has religious, ethnic, political and geographic variety, in addition to the participation of women," he said from the steps of his office. "Now that the process has started, we will spare no effort to bring back a smile to children's faces."

In new attacks today, insurgents fired at least six mortar rounds toward a U.S. military base Musayyib, 40 miles south of Baghdad, but hit a nearby bus station instead, killing four Iraqis and wounding 21, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.

In another attack today, a suicide car bomb exploded near an Iraqi army checkpoint, wounding four Iraqi soldiers, three U.S. soldiers and seven Iraqi civilians, the U.S. military said.