Iraq constitution due to be signed today

IRAQI politicians and a top Shi'ite cleric are due to sign the new Iraqi interim constitution charter today.

In Baghdad last night, the headquarters of the US-led coalition came under attack from a car bomb and rockets. One man was lightly injured as 10 rockets hit the landmark al-Rashid hotel.

In the northern city of Mosul, a shoot out between Iraqi police and gunmen claimed the life of one civilian and left another wounded, police and medical sources said.

Meanwhile, the 4th Infantry Division said it detained 27 individuals north of Baghdad in the region stretching from former dictator Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit to the Iranian border.

"We hope the signing ceremony will happen tomorrow. We've noted a statement by the current president of the Governing Council that they do intend to sign it tomorrow," chief US overseer in Iraq Paul Bremer said.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani and other members of Iraq's Governing Council must approve the results of the talks before the signing can take place.

The approval of an interim constitution is a key step in the US-backed plan to instil democracy in Iraq following the ousting of Saddam Hussein. But sectarian divisions pose an obstacle to a smooth political transition. Some Iraqis suspect the United States is trying to manipulate the process to ensure it retains a degree of control.

Mr Al-Sistani derailed a signing ceremony on Friday by rejecting clauses in the document that were agreed to earlier in the week by the US-appointed council.

With the ayatollah opposing the deal, five out of 13 Shi'ite members refused to sign angering some Sunnis and Kurds on the 25-member council.

The dispute illustrated the power the 75-year-old grand ayatollah holds over the political process.

A coalition source said earlier that Kurds and Sunnis on the Governing Council refused to change the disputed text and there was no compromise proposal. The Shi'ite members were trying to persuade Mr al-Sistani to drop his objections, the source said.

The main dispute was over a clause in the interim charter that would have given Iraq's Kurds the power to scuttle a permanent charter. Some Shi'ite leaders also said they wanted to change a clause that would have provided for a single president instead of a rotating leadership.

A Kurdish official said his side would not consent to changing the clause, which was agreed to by the entire council when it approved the constitution last week.

"We are sticking to it because it's a legitimate demand," said Kosrat Rasul, an official in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of two main Kurdish parties on the council.