WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Unrest in Iraq as deadline nears

Unrest in Iraq as deadline nears

(Bagdad, Iraq) August 20, 2005 - Insurgents ambushed a group of Iraqi special police forces in Baghdad, Saturday, killing two police officers.

The attack occurred near the Al-Shurta tunnel in the capital. One police officer was also wounded in the ambush.

Also on Saturday, Sunni arabs held a rally in the western city of Ramadi to protest against Iraq possibly becoming a federal state.

The demonstration comes as the deadline to finalize a constitutional draft for the country nears. Some five-thousand people gathered outside Ramadi's main mosque to voice their concerns.

The looming deadline for the final draft of the constitution has Iraqi leaders becoming increasingly frantic. They are still working to resolve differences that are blocking a draft constitution. The document is due to be submitted to legislators next week. Monday is the deadline.

Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds are deadlocked on crucial matters. They include the role of Islam, the distribution of oil wealth, the status of women and the proposed federal structure.

If an agreement cannot be reached, parliament and the government will have to be dissolved. Such a development would likely be another blow to Iraq's transition to democracy and Washington's efforts to derail an insurgency by normalizing the political landscape.

However, there have been some promising signs. Among them, the Kurds say they may drop their divisive demand for the right to secede.

Posted 4:49pm by Kaela Harmon with AP