SUNNI Arab leaders demanded yesterday that US and Iraqi troops suspend military operations in heavily Sunni areas, accusing the Shiite-led government of trying to divide the nation ahead of next month's legislative elections.

Iraqi officials are investigating “unusually high” numbers of “yes” votes in about a dozen provinces during the landmark referendum on a new constitution, raising questions about possible ballot fraud.

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.

US and UN officials urged the Shiite-led government to reverse last-minute changes to voting rules for a referendum on Iraq’s new constitution and head off a threatened Sunni boycott.

Thousands of Sunni demonstrators rallied in Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit today to denounce Iraq’s new constitution a day after negotiators finished the new charter without the endorsement of Sunni Arabs.

The US military has released 1,000 prisoners from Abu Ghraib jail after Iraqi authorities requested they be set free.

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

The United States military has released nearly 1,000 prisoners from Abu Ghraib prison after Iraqi authorities requested that they be set free, a military statement issued in Baghdad said today.

A top Sunni Arab negotiator said today that no agreement has been reached on the draft constitution and called on Iraqis to reject it in the October 15th referendum.

Iraqi leaders again delayed a vote on a draft constitution, in another dramatic last-minute stand-off.

Iraqi politicians tried to reach compromises with Sunni Arab leaders today on the country’s draft constitution, one day after synchronised bombings near at a bus station and nearby hospital killed up to 43 people in the capital.

Iraqi politicians are scrambling to reach a deal as today’s deadline to finish the country’s new constitution looms.

A suicide car bomber struck a US convoy waiting at a crossroads today in central 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.