A surprise visit to Iraq by Dick Cheney, the US Vice-President, was overshadowed yesterday by a lorry bomb in Irbil, the normally quiet Kurdish regional capital, that killed 14 people in the Interior Ministry.

The first big attack in Irbil for three years came as Mr Cheney arrived in Baghdad to meet Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, other senior Iraqi leaders and the senior US military commander.

Kurdish television showed rescue workers pulling victims from rubble and wreckage scattered across hundreds of feet. Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish MP, blamed the attack on the Sunni insurgent group Ansar al-Sunna, and Ansar al-Islam, a Kurdish militant group with ties to al-Qaeda in Iraq.

He claimed that the Kurdish authorities learnt of plans for a large-scale attack a week ago when police in Sulaimaniya arrested members of a militant cell, and that those arrested admitted to being trained by Iran.

“Kurdistan is a safe region and this will have its effect on trade, and companies will fear coming to this region,” Mr Othman said.

His alarm echoes wider concerns that militants, forced out of Baghdad by tens of thousands of US troops implementing the capital’s “surge” plan, have begun seeking targets further north and south.

Mr Cheney was intent on pressing Mr al-Maliki’s Shia-led Government for greater reconciliation with the minority Sunni population, at a time when Sunni MPs have threatened to leave the coalition.

His second visit to Iraq as Vice-President was marred by a public disagreement between US and Iraqi officials over plans to allow Iraq’s parliament a lengthy holiday.

The White House appears concerned that a long summer break will delay US-backed legislation intended to ease sectarian tensions, including a Bill for dividing the country’s oil revenues and another fostering national reconciliation.

“For the Iraqi parliament to take a two-month vacation in the middle of summer is impossible to understand,” said Ryan Crocker, the new US Ambassador, who took office in March and accompanied Mr Cheney.

However, the criticism went down badly with some legislators. Speaking live on state television, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, the speaker of the House and a prominent Sunni, chided the Bush Administration for interfering in Iraq’s affairs.

“You had better try and control Nancy Pelosi rather than Mahmoud al-Mashhadani,” he said, referring to the Democratic speaker of the US House of Representatives, who has publicly defied Bush Administration policy on Iraq.

“I believe the Council of Deputies enjoys full sovereignty in Iraq and can only accept advice through regular channels.”

As he spoke the Democratic-controlled Congress and White House remained locked in dispute over funding the conflict, a week after President Bush vetoed a war spending Bill that demanded a troop withdrawal beginning in October.

The White House has given warning that unless Mr Bush soon gets the $96 billion (£48,000 million) he has requested for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, funds for Iraq will run out next month.

The House is drafting a second Bill that would release $43 billion immediately, but that would require a second vote in July to release the rest. Democrats say that they will make the balance available only if the Iraqi Government has met certain benchmarks. The White House describes the new legislation as unacceptable.

Mr Cheney’s trip was the first leg of a week-long Middle East tour that will also include the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.

After his meeting with Mr al-Maliki both men conceded difficulties. Mr Cheney said they “talked about . . . an Iraq that is safe and secure, is self-governing and free of the threats of the insurgency and al-Qaeda”. Mr al-Maliki said the meeting “paved a foundation for practical steps to support our efforts.”

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