IRAQI leaders launched hurried negotiations yesterday aimed at averting a US assault on the city of Najaf, the location of the holiest Shiite site, the Imam Ali Shrine.

Iraqi politicians and a top Shiite cleric have successfully resolved their differences over the country’s interim constitution and will sign the charter tomorrow.

Iraq’s constitution was in limbo today after Shi’ite leaders refused to sign it in a last-minute dispute that wrecked a planned ceremony and marred a landmark in US plans to hand over sovereignty.

SHI’ITE members of Iraq’s Governing Council refused to sign the interim constitution at the last minute yesterday, delaying a signing ceremony, after the country’s top cleric rejected parts of the document, Iraqi officials said.

US administrator Paul Bremer says it could take more than 15 months to hold elections in Iraq – a much longer timeframe than the country’s Shi’ite Muslim clergy and some political leaders seem prepared to accept.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan today came out against holding elections in Iraq before the June 30 transfer of power to Iraqis, but made no suggestions on how to form a transitional government.

Two more American soldiers were killed by roadside bomb in Iraq today.

Insurgents launched new attacks against US occupation troops today as the United States was reported ready to make major changes in its blueprint for handing over power to a new Iraqi government.

A UN team sent to Iraq to study whether elections can be held before the handover of power to Iraqis by June 30 arrived safely in Baghdad today, the secretary-general announced.

Three Iraqis were killed when a truck bomb exploded soon after a US patrol passed by as two UN security experts arrived in the Iraqi capital Baghdad to study the possible return of international staff.

THOUSANDS of Shi’ite Muslims marched through Baghdad yesterday clamouring for Saddam Hussein’s execution in the latest show of strength by people oppressed for decades by the former dictator.

The top US commander in Iraq today urged Saddam loyalists to lay down arms and ”embrace the future,”, saying they will otherwise end up either dead or in custody.

Waves of protesting Iraqis marched against British soldiers, hurling stones and setting off homemade explosives in the southeastern city of Amarah today, a day after clashes killed six protesters and wounded at least 11.