Iraq constitution committee-member killed

ONE of the Sunni Arabs appointed to a committee to draft Iraq’s constitution was assassinated yesterday in a drive-by shooting.

Mijbil Issa was gunned down, along with an adviser to the committee and a bodyguard, in the Karradah area of Baghdad, according to Mohammed Abed-Rabbou, another Sunni member of the drafting committee.

Mr Issa was among 15 Sunnis named last month to a committee charged with drafting a new constitution by August 15. The Sunni Arabs were added in an attempt to reach out to the community at the heart of the insurgency.

However, two Sunni committee members had already quit because of threats from the insurgents who oppose the US-backed, Shi’ite-dominated government.

The attack occurred as the committee was meeting at Baghdad’s Convention Centre on the edge of the heavily fortified Green Zone, home to the US Embassy and Iraqi government offices.

Mr Issa was preparing to leave a restaurant where he had lunch when two cars pulled up near his vehicle and gunmen inside opened fire, said police Lt Karim Mahmoud.

In other violence, gunmen ambushed a bus carrying Iraqi workers to a US air base near Baqouba, killing 13.

Assailants in two cars attacked the minibus on its way to al-Faris air base, said Police Colonel Mahdi Saleh from Khalis. Baqouba is 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.

Another police official, who declined to give his name, said 10 workers were killed along with three civilians when the bus slammed into a nearby car.

Before Mr Issa’s slaying, President Jalal Talabani said good progress was being made on the constitution, although there are some “Arab brothers” who “have some reservations that are being taken into consideration.”

“If we can reach an agreement with them, I believe the constitution can be ready by the end of the month,” he said.

Mr Talabani, a Kurd, did not identify the critics but he was clearly referring to Sunni Arabs who want a strong statement affirming Iraq’s Arab identity and who oppose some definitions of federalism supported by the Kurds and some Shi’ite Muslims.

The Iraqi parliament has until August 15 to adopt a draft constitution, which will be put to a nationwide referendum by mid-October.