A series of violent attacks across Iraq left more than a dozen people dead, including three US soldiers, authorities said today. The killings came despite assurances from U.S. officials that progress was being made to improve security in the capital.

Snipers firing from rooftops and a cemetery today killed at least 16 people and injured 230 in a series of attacks on a religious procession in Baghdad, officials said.

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki presented his 28-point national reconciliation plan to parliament today, a document that calls for setting a timeline for Iraqi troops to take control of security throughout the country.

Gunmen wounded an Iraqi general in south-east Baghdad today and a blast killed three people in the heart of the capital as President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair prepared for a meeting on Iraq strategy now that a new government is in place.

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki says he believes Iraqi forces are capable of taking over security around the country within 18 months, but he did not mention a timetable for US-led coalition forces to leave.

Iraq’s Shiite alliance nominated tough-talking politician Jawad al-Maliki as prime minister, in a move that broke the long impasse over forming a new government to pull the country out of its sectarian strife.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari’s party will stick by him as the Shiite nominee for a second term and will put forward the name of a new candidate only if the premier decides to step aside, a top party official said today.

The Sunni Arab bloc in Iraq’s parliament remains opposed to a new term for Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and will ask the Shiites to present new names for consideration for the top government post, a Sunni spokesman said today.

The US military says it will begin moving thousands of prisoners out of Abu Ghraib prison to a new jail near Baghdad’s airport within three months and hand the notorious facility over to Iraqi authorities as soon as possible.

Iraq’s electoral commission today ruled that more than 99% of the ballots from the December 15 elections were valid, opening the way for a new government to start coming together.

LONG lines formed at petrol stations in Baghdad yesterday as word spread that Iraq's largest oil refinery had shut down in the face of threats against truck drivers, and fears grew of a petrol shortage.

Long lines formed at gas stations in Baghdad today as word spread that Iraq’s largest oil refinery had shut down in the face of threats against truck drivers, and fears grew of a petrol shortage.

SUNNI Arab and secular groups refused yesterday to open discussions with the Shiite religious bloc, leading in Iraq's parliamentary elections, until a full review of the contested results is carried out.

Sunni Arab and secular groups refused to open discussions with the Shiite religious bloc leading in Iraq’s parliamentary elections until a full review of the contested results is carried out.

GUERRILLAS killed 10 Iraqi policemen and soldiers in attacks north of Baghdad yesterday, while the capital itself was rocked by five major explosions that left at least eight dead.

Sunni Arab and secular political groups joined forces today to decide whether to reject the results of last week’s parliamentary election and call for a revote.

Iraq’s Electoral Commission announced today that preliminary results showed that about 70% of the country’s 15.5 million registered voters took part in last week’s election for a new parliament.

Sunni Arabs and a key secular party charged that parliamentary elections were tainted by fraud, and demanded an inquiry into preliminary results showing the governing Shiite religious bloc with a larger than expected lead.

IRAQ'S main Sunni Arab political party yesterday demanded an international investigation into allegations that security forces illegally detained and tortured suspected insurgents at secret jails in Baghdad.

A SUNNI Arab coalition yesterday submitted its list of candidates for the December elections, signalling the intention of many Sunnis to join the political process despite their failure to block ratification of the new constitution.

IRAQ’s ruling Shi’ite Islamist parties struck a last-minute deal to patch up differences yesterday and agreed to register as a united bloc for December 15 polls where they face a new Sunni Arab alliance.

Iraqi negotiators have reached a breakthrough deal on the constitution, and at least one Sunni Arab party said it would now urge its followers to approve the charter in this weekend’s referendum.

Last-minute negotiations to address Sunni Arab objections to Iraq’s draft constitution resumed today, with only four days left before the charter is put to a nationwide vote that will determine the course of the country’s transition to democratic rule.

Sunni Arab negotiators in a joint statement today rejected the Iraqi draft constitution and asked the United Nations and Arab League to intervene.

The new head of Iraq’s biggest Sunni government organisation has accused “some elements” in the Shiite-controlled Interior Ministry of random arrests to keep Sunni Arabs from registering to vote in the constitutional referendum.

ONE day before the deadline for Iraq’s new constitution, Sunni Arab negotiators appealed to the international community to prevent Shi’ites and Kurds from pushing a draft charter through parliament without Sunni consent.

Masked gunmen have killed three Sunni Arabs in front of horrified witnesses outside a mosque in Mosul, after grabbing them as they hung posters urging fellow Sunnis to vote in a referendum on the new constitution.

A PART of Iraq’s draft constitution released to the press yesterday gives Islam a major role in Iraqi civil law, raising concerns that women could lose rights in marriage, divorce and inheritance.

A suicide bomber wearing a belt packed with explosives blew himself up outside a bank in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk today, killing 23 people, including pensioners waiting for checks and child street vendors.

IRAQ’S president publicly praised Shi’ite and Kurdish militias Wednesday in a statement that could further antagonise Sunni Arabs and fuel fears of sectarian strife.

TWO suicide bombers blew themselves up yesterday in a crowd of police officers south of Baghdad, killing up to 30 people and wounding dozens, while US forces briefly detained a Sunni political leader on the second day of an Iraqi-led security sweep in the capital.

SHOUTING from their seats, lawmakers failed to agree on a parliament speaker during their second-ever National Assembly meeting yesterday, as officials continued to haggle over the role of Sunni Arabs in the new government, a role officials hope will quell the Sunni-led insurgency.

In the deadliest single strike since the fall of Saddam Hussein, a suicide car bomber attacked mostly Shiite police and National Guard recruits lined up for physical exams at a medical clinic, killing 115 and wounding 132 there and at a nearby market.

Mariam Fam, Baghdad

Leaders of the mostly Shiite Muslim ticket said today they have no intention of establishing an Iranian-style Islamic state in Iraq if they sweep next weekend’s national elections.

The governor of the Baghdad region, known for co-operating closely with American troops, was assassinated along with six bodyguards as he drove to work in yet another bloody day of insurgent attacks that exposed grave security flaws in Iraq with elections less than a month away.