4 U.S. Soldiers Killed In Iraq
A roadside bomb north of Baghdad killed four American soldiers, the U.S. military said.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the biggest Shiite party Thursday predicted a breakthrough on the constitution within the next two days, as negotiators scrambled to finish the draft by next week's deadline.
The military said the roadside bomb blast occurred in the tense, religiously mixed city of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad. No further details were immediately available.
Samarra is among a series of towns and cities in central and western Iraq that fell into insurgent hands last year after the United States transferred sovereignty to the Iraqis. U.S. forces regained control last year but the situation there remains uncertain.
Government officials said that Wednesday's synchronized car bombings at a bus station and nearby hospital that killed up to 43 people in Baghdad were an attempt to target Shiites and stoke civil war between religious groups in the country.
"They targeted an area that has a population of people from southern Shiite provinces, and their message was that their government is unable to protect you from us," government spokesman Laith Kubba said. "They want a reaction against Sunnis to therefore deepen the sectarian crisis in the country."
Kubba said flyers had recently been handed out in some Baghdad neighborhoods threatening Shiites if they did not leave the city. At least one person, a Sunni Arab woman married to a Shiite, had been killed after the threats, he said.
Kubba also said four suspects arrested on suspicion of being involved in the attack the prior day had been released after questioning.
In other developments:
Four days before the constitution's deadline, Sunni Arab members of the drafting committee met with Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to present their objections to federalism and other issues blocking an agreement.
Afterward, leaders of the factions — Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds — conferred late into Thursday night at the home of Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi in the heavily fortified Green Zone. No statement was issued after the meeting, but representatives of all three factions spoke optimistically about prospects for finishing by the new deadline Monday.
Parliament voted unanimously last Monday to extend the deadline by one week after negotiations deadlocked over a number of issues including federalism, Kurdish demands for the right to secede, distribution of oil wealth and the role of Islam.
The interim constitution states that the legislature must dissolve if the negotiators cannot finish their work by the new deadline.
But Haitham al-Husseini, a spokesman for the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, said he expected a breakthrough within 48 hours, adding that "the work is being done in an inclusive way to overcome the points of disagreements."
Similar optimism was expressed publicly last week before the negotiators had to admit they were deadlocked. However, Sunni and Kurdish officials also seemed upbeat.
"I expect that the constitution would be finished before Monday," Sunni negotiator Saleh al-Mutlaq said. "Negotiations are still under way and everybody is determined to finish it before the deadline."
He said American and British officials were pressing the Sunnis to compromise on the issues of federalism and other topics.
"Americans are more concerned about the sacred deadlines rather than the contents of the constitution," al-Mutlaq said.
However, both the Shiites and the Kurds again pointed to the Sunnis as the main holdouts because of their opposition to transforming Iraq into a federated state, which they fear would lead to the breakup of the nation.