US Vice-President Dick Cheney has paid a surprise visit to Iraq just three days after a landmark election that many hope will ease sectarian tensions in the region.
On his first trip to the country since the 2003 US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, Mr Cheney flew into Baghdad for talks with President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari.
The Vice-President, a chief architect of the US-led invasion, hailed an estimated 70% election turnout as 'remarkable'.
A lull in violence since the largely peaceful vote was shattered today by a bomb in a busy Baghdad market which killed five people and injured at least seven.
It exploded close to a Shi'ite mosque, although it is unclear if that was the intended target.
More than 15.5 million Iraqis were eligible to vote for the first full-term parliament since the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003, with Washington now poised to slash troop numbers in the war-torn country next year.
At least 2,156 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq from the invasion to the election, the final stage in the political transition to full sovereignty.
Although official results are not expected for another nine days, US officials and the United Nations have appealed for the quick formation of a government that reaches across the sectarian divide.
Once the seats in parliament are allocated, MPs will appoint a president and two vice presidents, who will have 15 days to name a prime minister, who must form a cabinet backed by parliament.
Mr Cheney's visit comes just hours before US President George W Bush, whose approval ratings have slumped over the rising US body count, was to give a speech laying out the way forward in Iraq.
