13 Dead In Iraq Bus Attack
Gunmen ambushed a bus carrying Iraqi workers to a U.S. airbase near Baqouba, killing 13 in yet another sign of the country's deteriorating security situation. Iraq's president predicted Tuesday that a new constitution could be hammered out by the end of the month.
Assailants in two cars attacked the minibus on its way to al-Faris airbase, said Police Col. Mahdi Saleh from Khalis. Baqouba is 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.
Another police official, who declined to give his name, said 10 workers were killed along with three civilians when the bus slammed into a nearby car.
In Baghdad, President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said good progress was being made on drafting a new constitution but there are some Sunni Arabs who "have some reservations that are being taken into consideration."
"If we can reach an agreement with them, I believe the constitution can be ready by the end of the month," he said.
Later Tuesday, one of the Sunnis appointed to the committee to draft the constitution was assassinated in a drive-by shooting, an Iraqi official said.
Mijbil Issa was gunned down, along with two bodyguards, in the Karradah area of Baghdad, according to Mohammed Abed-Rabbou, a Sunni member of the drafting committee.
In other developments:
The deadline for completing a draft constitution is Aug. 15, after which the charter will be submitted to the electorate for approval two months later.
Talabani did not identify the critics but he was clearly referring to Sunni Arabs who want a strong statement affirming Iraq's Arab identity and who oppose some definitions of federalism supported by the Kurds and some Shiite Muslims.
Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite, said he supported using the interim constitution, approved before Iraq regained sovereignty from the U.S.-led occupation authority.
Some Shiites oppose the interim charter's limitations on the role of Muslim law as the basis of the legal code. Some Sunnis oppose autonomy guarantees given to the Kurds as a threat to national unity.
"Concerning the constitution, we are in agreement with the national and Kurdish forces that the interim constitution be the basis for the Iraqi constitution," Allawi said.
"I believe that will allow Iraq to have the constitution. As soon as the referendum on it is finished, Iraq will have stability," he said.
Violence has steadily escalated in Iraq since Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari announced his Shiite-dominated government in April. Most of the insurgents are Sunni Arabs, who enjoyed considerable prestige in Iraq during the rule of Saddam Hussein.
On Tuesday, Iraqi National Assembly speaker Hajim al-Hasani expressed his concern regarding the spike in terrorist attacks but also cautioned that recent calls to form militias in cities could prove problematic.
Al-Hasani said the presence of militias on Iraqi streets would represent a big challenge to the government and its attempts to impose security.
Such a move could "open the door for the interference of regional and international forces in Iraq's affairs," he warned.
Instead, he called upon the government to speed up the process of building up security and the Iraqi army.