Constitution disputes threaten hold-up in Iraqi peace process

The decision to ask for an extension was taken after a number of members said it was clear that major issues stood in the way of an agreement on the language of the charter. Among the key disputes are federalism, dual nationality and the role of Islam.

The committee chairman Humam Hammoudi's recommendation of a 30-day extension was accepted, one of the members, Bahaa al-Araji, said. He explained that the Kurdish delegates had wanted a six-month delay, but the Shiites and Sunni Arabs decided to ask for an extra 30 days.

The formal request for a delay will be submitted to parliament today, according to committee members.

Following the decision, Jalal Talabani, Iraq's president, held a meeting with , Zalmay Khalilad, the United States ambassador. Mr Talabani later insisted that the 15 August deadline for parliamentary approval of the constitution would be met, and he began urgent consultations with parliamentary leaders in an attempt to head off any delay.

The president's office then released a statement late yesterday, saying that he had met members of the national assembly and stressed to them the necessity of finishing writing the constitution by the scheduled time.

Mr Talabani had demanded that maximum efforts be exerted to reach a national accord regarding the drafting of the constitution, the statement said.

The US has put considerable pressure on the Iraqis to meet the August deadline. If that happens, the constitution will be put to a national referendum in mid-October, with general elections planned by the end of the year.

US officials believe that a new Iraqi constitution will help calm the insurgency by encouraging the country's disaffected Sunni Arab community, which forms the core of the militants, to abandon the conflict and join the political process.

So far, the violence shows little sign of abating: five American soldiers were killed by roadside bombs in two separate incidents in Baghdad over the weekend, according to the US military.

In the first attack, on Saturday afternoon, a patrol hit a roadside bomb in the southern Dora district, resulting in one soldier being killed and two others wounded.

That evening, a further four soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb exploded in south-western Baghdad.

The violence and bloodshed continued yesterday, when a car bomb exploded south of Baghdad, killing five civilians and wounding ten people, including two policemen. The bomb had targeted a police vehicle as it passed on a main road near the town of Haswa, 30 miles south of Baghdad, police said.

In the town of Mahaweel, some 50 miles south of the capital, a convoy carrying several members of the deputy prime minister Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress group was ambushed yesterday, leaving one guard dead and three others wounded.

Mr Chalabi's spokesman, Entifadh Qanbar, said the ambush occurred as the convoy headed towards the Shiite holy city of Karbala.

Meanwhile, in western Iraq, US marines battled insurgents with tanks and aircraft after the Americans came under attack from a village schoolhouse.

Eleven insurgents were killed in the operation, according to the US military , which did not say whether any marines had been killed or wounded in the battle.

The fighting started when marines from Regimental Combat Team-2 were attacked with mortar fire from a schoolhouse in a village near Haditha, 140 miles north-west of Baghdad.

The building was rigged with explosives and fortified with at least three machine guns in the windows, a military statement said.

US Abrams tanks and jet aircraft attacked the buildings, setting off secondary explosions from the munitions stored inside, it added.