35 killed as Iraq's leaders meet 

At least 35 people have been killed in attacks across the country, including the region where Australian soldiers are based, as Iraq's president announced a series of meetings of political leaders to negotiate issues holding up completion of the new constitution.

Legislators have vowed to have the country's post-Saddam Hussein constitution ready by August 15, despite at least 18 unresolved issues including the country's official name, the role of Islam, a definition of federalism and the future of oil-rich Kirkuk.

The goal of the meetings is to "deploy the necessary efforts to reach a consensus," President Jalal Talabani told reporters, as leaders arrived for the meeting at his Baghdad residence.

A second meeting bringing in figures from outside parliament was set for Monday (local time), Talabani said.

"We cannot reach solutions for all the outstanding issues tonight, but we will continue the meetings until a complete resolution is met," he said.

"We are in a race against the clock," Mahmud Othman, a member of the constitutional drafting committee, told AFP ahead of the meeting, adding that there was "great US and British pressure" to meet the August 15 dateline.

US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad issued a statement in which he wished Iraqi leaders "all the best" in their negotiations.

"All sides will need to make compromises, but should feel that their essential needs are met," he said.

Personalities at the meeting include a leader of the conservative Shi'ite Arab majority in parliament, Abdel Aziz Hakim, and Sunni Vice-President Ghazi Al-Yawar.

The arrival of the president of the semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region, Massoud Barzani, was delayed by a sandstorm that struck Baghdad.

Hakim said in an interview with state-owned Iraqiya television ahead of the meeting that he was optimistic differences would be resolved.

"There are some points of disagreement and we still have some talking to do, but I am optimistic at the possibility of a consensus," Hakim said.

His statements came after Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari - also from the Shi'ite majority - met Shi'ite Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani on Friday, and reported that the revered spiritual leader was willing to accept a federal Iraq.

In violence across the country, seven Iraqi soldiers were killed and 17 wounded when a suicide bomber blew up a truck loaded with explosives at the entrance to an Iraqi army base in central Tikrit, 180 km north of Baghdad, an Iraqi army officer said.

Three other Iraqi soldiers were killed when gunmen attacked their patrol in south Baghdad, while two other people working in the oil ministry were shot dead in south-east Baghdad.

In Samawah, a Shi'ite town in Al Muthanna province, where the Australian contingent is based, at least one civilian was killed and 44 wounded as protesters demanding jobs and public services clashed with police.

About 1,000 protesters gathered outside the Samawah government headquarters to protest. Violence erupted when the crowd started throwing stones at the building.

Samawah, 270 km south-east of Baghdad, is the largest urban centre in the area where Japan's military contingent in Iraq is located.

Twenty-three other people were killed in further attacks around the country.

Despite the violence, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview with Time magazine released today that the insurgency in Iraq is "losing steam" while "rather quiet political progress" remains on track.

Those developments augur well for the future of democracy in Iraq, she said.

Two US soldiers were also killed in a bomb explosion near Samarra, north of Baghdad, yesterday, the US military said today, bringing the total US military personnel casualties since the March 2003 invasion to 1,820 according to an AFP tally based on Pentagon figures.

The US death toll includes 14 US marines killed in a single roadside bombing Wednesday in the western town of Haditha, in the Euphrates valley. It was one of the deadliest single attacks since the invasion.

US marine and Iraqi forces continued operations in the same area and reported discovering weapons and ammunition hidden in small riverside caves. Twenty-four "suspected terrorists" were detained, the military said.

The rising US death toll is eroding President George Bush's ratings, with 61% of Americans disapproving his handling of the situation in Iraq, according to a Newsweek magazine survey.

It is Bush's lowest rating on Iraq ever. Until now his poll rating hovered above the 40% mark.