BAGHDAD, Aug 7: At least 39 people were killed in attacks across the country on Sunday as Iraq’s president announced a series of meetings of political leaders to negotiate issues holding up completion of the new constitution. Legislators have vowed to have the country’s post-Saddam Hussein constitution ready by Aug 15, despite at least 18 unresolved issues including the country’s official name, the role of Islam, a definition of federalism and the future of oil-rich Kirkuk.

The goal of the meetings is to “deploy the necessary efforts to reach a consensus,” President Jalal Talabani told reporters on Sunday, as leaders arrived for the meeting at his Baghdad residence. A second meeting bringing in figures from outside parliament was set for Monday, Talabani said.

“We cannot reach solutions for all the outstanding issues tonight, but we will continue the meetings until a complete resolution is met,” he said.

“We are in a race against the clock,” Mahmud Othman, a member of the constitutional drafting committee, said ahead of the meeting, adding that there was “great US and British pressure” to meet the Aug 15 dateline.

US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad issued a statement on Sunday in which he wished Iraqi leaders “all the best” in their negotiations. Personalities at the meeting include a leader of the conservative Shia Arab majority in parliament, Abdel Aziz Hakim, and Sunni Vice President Ghazi Al-Yawar.

The arrival of the president of the semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region, Massoud Barzani, was delayed by a sandstorm that struck Baghdad on Sunday. In violence across the country seven Iraqi soldiers were killed and 17 wounded when a suicide bomber blew up a truck loaded with explosives at the entrance to an Iraqi army base in central Tikrit, 180 kilometres north of Baghdad, an Iraqi army officer said.

Three other Iraqi soldiers were killed when gunmen attacked their patrol in south Baghdad, while two other people working in the oil ministry were shot dead in southeast Baghdad.

In Samawa at least one civilian was killed and 44 wounded as protesters demanding jobs and public services clashed with police. Around 1,000 protesters gathered outside the Samawa government headquarters to protest. Violence erupted when the crowd started throwing stones at the building.

Samawa is the largest urban centre in the area where Japan’s military contingent in Iraq is located. Twenty-three other people were killed in further attacks around the country.

Despite the violence, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview with Time magazine released Sunday that the insurgency in Iraq is “losing steam” while “rather quiet political progress” remains on track.

Two US soldiers were also killed in a bomb explosion near Samarra, north of Baghdad, on Saturday, the US military said on Sunday, bringing the total US military personnel casualties since the March 2003 invasion to 1,820 according to a tally based on Pentagon figures.— AFP