Six American troops killed in roadside bombings and a shooting, the military said Sunday, as lawmakers were making efforts to persuade Sunnis to accept federalism provisions in the draft constitution that is due in Monday.
"If we don't reach an agreement today, we might amend the interim constitution and extend the deadline by a minimum of two weeks," Shiite legislator, Jawad al-Maliki, told The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military said three troops were killed and another injured in a roadside bombing late Friday near Tuz Khormato, 95 miles north of Baghdad. One soldier on a patrol was killed Sunday and three others wounded in a blast east of Rutbah, 250 miles west of Baghdad, the military stated. In another roadside bombing, one soldier was killed Saturday and another wounded in western Baghdad.
On Friday a U.S. commander said the number of roadside bomb attacks against American convoys in Iraq had doubled in the past year to about 30 per week.
The US military said in a brief statement that one soldier was found dead Friday of a gunshot wound. The military said an investigation was underway.
In another development, Iraqi police discovered 30 corpses in a communal grave south of Baghdad.
The beheaded body of an unidentified woman was found in Baghdad's southern neighborhood of Dora, police 1st Lt. Thaer Mahmoud said. Two bodies, including one that was beheaded, were found in eastern Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad, police and hospital officials said.
A roadside bomb along a highway killed one civilian Sunday and wounded another in Mahmoudiya, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Baghdad, police Capt. Saad al-Samaraei said, according to The AP.
Elsewhere, a police officer was killed and two others injured in a drive-by shooting in Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, police Col. Farhad Talabani said. Gunmen also killed one border guard and injured three others near the northeast town of Khanaqin close to the Iranian border, police said.
