Almost 45 dead in Iraq ahead of referendum

Insurgents determined to wreck Iraq’s constitutional referendum killed nearly 45 people and wounded dozens in a series of attacks today, including a suicide car-bomb that ripped apart a crowded market in a town near the Syrian border, police said.

US and Iraqi officials had repeatedly warned insurgents would step up their attacks to undermine Saturday’s referendum, a crucial step in Iraq’s democratic transition, and that appeared to be happening today.