Iraq constitution split on federated state

Masked gunmen have killed three Sunni Arabs in front of horrified witnesses outside a mosque in Mosul, after grabbing them as they hung posters urging fellow Sunnis to vote in a referendum on the new constitution.

As the Monday deadline to finish the constitution approaches, Sunni Arabs and some Shiites rallied in Baghdad and elsewhere yesterday to protest calls for a federated state – a demand of the Kurds and the biggest Shiite party but a key stumbling block to an agreement on the charter.