Officials probe ‘unusually high’ Iraq constitution vote totals

A SANDSTORM that closed Baghdad’s airport cleared yesterday, allowing officials to resume flying ballot boxes to the capital so “unusually high” vote totals in 12 Shiite and Kurdish provinces can be checked by election officials.

The investigation by Iraq’s election commission has raised the possibility that the referendum results could be called into question. 99% of voters reportedly approved the draft constitution in some provinces.

Meanwhile, insurgents resumed attacks that had fallen sharply during voting.

Militants killed five Iraqis yesterday, including an adviser to a top Sunni Arab official, shot while driving to work in Baghdad. The mutilated bodies of six Iraqis kidnapped and killed in captivity also were found in the capital, police said.

In western Iraq, two US Marines and four militants were killed near Rutba, not far from the Jordanian border, on Monday. At least 1,978 US troops have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003.