Diplomats press Iraq talks

US, British and UN diplomats pressed Iraqi leaders in make-or-break negotiations over a Constitution yesterday, determined to see a draft of the document finalised by the new August 22 deadline.

Senior negotiators from the Kurdish and Shi'ite communities hinted an agreement might be reached days before Monday's target date, but Sunni Arabs, the third major party to the contested talks, played down that possibility.

In Ramadi, west of Baghdad, gunmen opened fire with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades on a mosque where the governor of the province was meeting senior Sunni Muslim clerics and several people were wounded, witnesses said.

North of Baghdad, four US soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb, raising the US death toll to more than 1,850 since the war in Iraq began. Insurgents appear to have developed more powerful bombs able to pierce newly armoured US vehicles.

Talks on the Constitution, which broke down before the previous deadline on Monday, prompting an extraordinary session of parliament to amend the law and allow a week longer, remained divided over three fundamental issues - federalism, the role of Islam and the distribution of revenue from natural resources.

Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of the drafting committee, said talks were progressing and he expected an agreement to be reached by Monday, though he said he was not certain it would be signed by minority Sunni Arabs.

"I think there will be some sort of agreement by the deadline but the question mark is the Sunni Arabs," he said. "Everyone wants them to be involved, but I'm not sure that they will come around. I'm not sure it will include them."

The Sunnis, dominant under Saddam Hussein and for centuries before, strongly oppose a recent proposal by Shi'ite Arabs to create a federal region in the south of Iraq, mirroring the autonomous zone Kurds have enjoyed in the north since 1991.

They worry that they will be left as a minority in the centre of the country, where there is no oil.

Mr Othman and others in the talks said US, British and UN diplomats were playing a prominent role, cajoling the parties along and meeting negotiators on the sidelines.

"Sometimes it seems it is even more important to them that we get a deal. They are concerned, and very active," Mr Othman told Reuters. "If there's no success, it affects them as well. I think they are almost more concerned than we are."

Saleh al-Mutlak, one of the main Sunni Arab negotiators, said he and others from his camp had met the British and US ambassadors to discuss the issue of federalism and would sit down with the Shi'ites and Kurds to haggle further.

"There are several points disagreed on, and I expect we will find a compromise," Mr Mutlak told Reuters.

At least two negotiators, from the Kurdish and Shi'ite communities, said it might be possible to produce a finalised document in the next couple of days, but Mr Mutlaq and others were not convinced.