BAGHDAD – Two Sunni members of the Iraqi Cabinet resigned Tuesday after Iraqi security forces backed by helicopters raided a Sunni protest camp before dawn Tuesday, prompting clashes that killed at least 40 people and significantly intensified Sunni anger against the Shiite-led government.



“The Minister of Education, Mohammed Ali Tamim, resigned from his post after the Iraqi army forces broke into the area of the sit-in in Kirkuk” province, said an official from Deputy Prime Minister Saleh Al-Mutlak’s office.



“The resignation is final, and there will be no going back,” the official added.



Parliament Speaker Osama Al-Nujaifi later said at a news conference that Science and Technology Minister Abdulkarim Al-Samarraie told him by telephone that he too was quitting.



Clashes between security forces and protesters in the morning at a demonstration near Hawijah in north Iraq left 40 people dead, while 13 gunmen died carrying out subsequent revenge attacks on army positions.



Later in the day, protesters west of Baghdad killed six soldiers and kidnapped a seventh, security officers said.



The resignations bring the number of ministers to leave Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki’s Cabinet since March to four.



Agriculture minister Ezzedine Al-Dawleh quit on March 8 after a protester was killed in north Iraq, and finance minister Rafa Al-Essawi, some of whose bodyguards were arrested on terrorism charges in December, announced his resignation at an anti-government demonstration on March 1.



The fighting broke out in the former insurgent stronghold of Hawija, about 240 kilometers (160 miles) north of Baghdad. Like many predominantly Sunni communities, the town has seen months of rallies by protesters accusing the government of neglect and pursuing a sectarian agenda.



Sectarian tensions have been intensifying for months, pressured by Sunni protests that began in December.



Underscoring the government’s concern over the incident, Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki swiftly announced the formation of a special ministerial committee to investigate what happened in Hawija.



Outrage soon spread through other Sunni parts of the country, including the restive western Anbar province, where demonstrators took to the streets and clashed with police.



The UN envoy to Iraq, Martin Kobler, strongly condemned the use of violence in an emotional plea for restraint at a news conference in Kirkuk, not far from Hawija.



“I’m saddened but I’m also angered that it was not possible to prevent this tragedy,” he said. “We deplore the loss of life on both sides, but in particular, more died on the side of the demonstrators. This is a tragedy ... and I’m so upset.”



As news of Tuesday’s raid spread, calls went out through mosque loudspeakers in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, urging residents to protest in solidarity with fellow Sunnis in Hawija. About 1,000 protesters took to the streets in the western city, where anger at the government is particularly strong. Some chanted “War, war,” as security forces fanned out in the streets.



In nearby Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, protesters threw stones at a military convoy. One army Humvee was overturned and set ablaze in the clashes. – Agencies