IRAQ: Iraq's parliament has agreed to set up a body to draft constitutional changes, a key part of a breakthrough deal reached by the country's factions to end political paralysis and avoid civil war.
Iraq's new, US-sponsored political system has been stalled by wrangling over amendments to the constitution and autonomy for the oil-rich Shia heartland in the south, while the streets have grown ever more violent since December's election.
Breaking the deadlock at a time when US commanders fear a surge in violence through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan was a crucial test of Shia prime minister Nuri al-Maliki's efforts to sustain his four-month-old national unity government.
In the south of Iraq, British forces said they had killed Omar Faruq, described as a senior al- Qaeda figure who escaped from a US military prison in Afghanistan more than a year ago.
"I think the agreement is like a gift presented by parliament to the Iraqi people for Ramadan," parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a Sunni, said.
"Any speech that might be considered offensive and open up any other topic will be banned - today is like a wedding."
Under the deal reached on Sunday, majority Shias and minority Sunnis agreed to create a constitutional committee and pass a law allowing autonomy for regions, while postponing the creation of any new autonomous region until at least 2008.
Members agreed on the committee in principle yesterday and will name its 27 members today. It will have 12 members from the ruling Shia religious bloc, five ethnic Kurds, four from the main Sunni Arab bloc and smaller numbers of others.
Yesterday, mortar bombs and a truck bomber targeted a police station in Jurf al-Sakhar, a small town south of Baghdad.
Police sources said three people were killed and 10 were wounded.
The US is focusing the efforts of its 147,000 troops in Iraq on keeping the peace in Baghdad. However, US defence officials in Washington said the US military would delay the departure of about 3,500 soldiers in the Ramadi area. Ramadi is the capital of Anbar province in western Iraq, heartland of the Sunni insurgency.
In an interview in the Washington Post, Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said Iraq still needed foreign troops while it built up its own forces, and would like a small US presence of 10,000 troops and two air bases for the long term.