Iraq said Wednesday its post-Saddam Hussein constitution would be ready within two weeks despite sustained rebel attacks that saw the killing of two Sunni members of the charter's drafting committee. Another 15 people lost their lives on Wednesday, including eight killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the gates of an army recruiting centre in Baghdad, the latest attack against the country's security forces.
Constitution committee chairman Hamoun Hammadi said the document would be ready to go to parliament by August 1, ahead of the August 15 deadline, before going to a referendum on October 15.
"There has been an agreement about all the basic issues, including the basic principles, rights, duties and freedoms," he told reporters. "The only point left is that of federalism which aroused some concerns and fears."
The national assembly will then debate the draft and submit amendments in time for a final vote on August 15, marking a milestone in Iraq's political transition following the March 2003 US-led invasion and the toppling of Saddam.
Hammadi's announcement came despite the killing of two Sunni Arabs involved in the drafting which led to resignation of four other Sunni members of the commission and raised doubt about its ability to prepare the charter on time.
Dhamin Hussein and Aziz Ibrahim, among 15 prominent Sunni Arabs from outside parliament invited to work on the panel drafting the document, were gunned down in Baghdad Tuesday.
"The time is not right for writing the constitution and we think it is not possible for us to continue working in such an atmosphere," said Salah al-Mutlaq, a spokesman for the Sunni-based National Dialogue Council, which groups a number of small Sunni parties.
The minority Sunni Arabs, who were dominant under Saddam, are under-represented in parliament because they largely boycotted elections in January and are considered the backbone of the insurgency.
The New York Times said the draft of the constitution was aiming to curtail women's rights, impose the Sharia or Koranic law in personal matters like marriage, divorce and inheritance, as well as curb their representation in parliament.
The blast came 10 days after another suicide bomber killed at least 21 would-be recruits waiting at the same gate.
A three-minute silence was observed to commemorate the deaths of 32 children in Baghdad last week when a suicide bomber blew himself up as US soldiers handed out chocolates and for the 83 dead when another bomber blew up a propane gas tanker in Al-Musayyib, south of the capital.
US military sources said two insurgents linked to gas-tanker attack were killed and a third arrested in a Sunni village near Al-Musayyib.
Three British soldiers were charged for prisoner abuse with one, Corporal Donald Payne, facing manslaughter charges over the death of a 26-year-old hotel receptionist Baha Mousa in the southern Iraq city of Basra in September 2003.
Turkey warned it was losing patience over the safe haven that armed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels enjoyed in northern Iraq, saying it may carry out a military incursion.
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