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Four U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq
Four U.S. soldiers were killed and six others wounded when insurgents attacked their patrol in a northern Iraqi city, while a car bomb targeting a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol in Baghdad killed seven people, officials said Wednesday, reported the Associated Press.
The 10 Task Force Liberty soldiers were on patrol when they came under attack late Tuesday in Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad, a military statement said Wednesday. Insurgents fired on the convoy with rocket-propelled grenades, damaging two Humvees and a Bradley Fighting Vehicle, said Beiji police Lt. Ali Abdul-Hameed. Witnesses in the area said the Bradley fell into a canal and a U.S. helicopter transported the casualties. The car bomb in Baghdad exploded in the western neighborhood of Ghazaliyah, said 1st Lt. Thair Mahmoud. Four civilians and three policemen were killed, he said. Another seven people were injured. It was unclear whether any U.S. troops were injured. On Tuesday, a suicide car bomber struck a U.S. convoy waiting at an intersection in Baghdad, killing seven people �� including one American soldier �� and wounding more than 90. More than a dozen others died in scattered attacks across the capital. The American convoy was stopped at a busy intersection when a driver detonated a vehicle packed with explosives, the U.S. Army said. Six Iraqi civilians also were killed; scores of Iraqis and two U.S. soldiers were wounded. The United States hopes progress on the political front, including adoption of a democratic constitution, will help deflate the Sunni Arab-led rebellion and enable the Americans and their partners to begin withdrawing troops next year. "It's important that they stay with their timetable" on the constitution, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday. "This will be a critical step in persuading the majority of the Iraqis that the new Iraq is worth fighting for, that they have a stake in it." Rumsfeld told Pentagon reporters that the constitution "could well turn out to be one of the most powerful weapons to be deployed against the terrorists" and the insurgents are "determined to stop the constitutional process through terror and intimidation." Late Tuesday, representatives of political factions met for a second round of talks aimed at breaking the deadlock over the constitution, which the parliament must approve by Aug. 15. Talks were postponed Monday by a severe sandstorm. The constitution also needs approval from voters in an Oct. 15 referendum. Passage would lead to elections in mid-December. At the beginning of the meeting, presidential spokesman Kamran Qaradaghi told reporters the latest talks would focus on federalism, distribution of wealth and the elections law. Kurds demand that Iraq be transformed into a federal state so they can continue to run their autonomous mini-state in the north. Sunni Arabs oppose federalism because they fear the Kurds want to secede and dismember Iraq. Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani joined the talks Tuesday. Barzani, who had been stranded in northern Iraq by the sandstorms, has vowed not to compromise on federalism. A prominent Sunni Arab on the constitutional committee, Saleh al-Mutlaq, suggested that federalism be decided by the parliament to be elected in December. "We will not accept federalism in these circumstances," al-Mutlaq told The Associated Press. He warned that if Kurdish demands are accepted, "they will have grave consequences" for the future of Iraq. He did not elaborate. Meanwhile, a group of women activists issued a statement Tuesday insisting that the new constitution guarantee women's rights "as an essential part of guaranteeing human rights of all members of Iraqi society" regardless of gender, race, religion or sect.
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