Baghdad

At least 73 worshippers were killed and 85 wounded on Friday in suicide attacks on two Shi’ite mosques in an eastern town near the border with Iran, the latest deadly strike by rebels on Iraq’s majority religious group. The attack came just hours after suicide bombers killed six people outside a Baghdad hotel.

Iraq’s main Sunni Arab political party has demanded an international investigation into allegations that security forces illegally detained and tortured suspected insurgents at secret jails in Baghdad. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari confirmed on Tuesday that prisoners were found malnourished and possibly tortured by government security forces.

Two suicide bombers blew themselves up on Thursday inside a restaurant frequented by Baghdad police, killing at least 33 people and seriously injuring 19, while a car bomb killed seven army recruits in Saddam Hussein’s hometown, police said. Also on Thursday, Iraqi soldiers found the bodies of 27 people near the Iranian border.

The murder of a second defence lawyer in the Saddam Hussein trial threatens to unravel the proceedings of the United States-sponsored court, set up to try crimes committed during Iraq’s former dictatorship. Lawyers for Saddam and his seven co-defendants in the trial for crimes against humanity that opened on October 19 have suspended contacts with the court, demanding a 10-point list of demands be met.

Sunni-led insurgents killed six Iraqi police at a checkpoint on Friday and fired a mortar round that struck a home outside the capital, killing a mother and child, as Shi’ites began celebrating a major Muslim holiday. Meanwhile, in a statement posted on an Islamic website, al-Qaeda in Iraq threatened more attacks on diplomats in the country.

An insurgent blew up his car in a Baghdad square, killing four people in the first significant suicide bombing in the capital in weeks. More than 20 Iraqis died in a swell of violence, including a bomb that killed a police colonel and four children. In the past, Baghdad has been heavily battered by deadly suicide attacks, with a string of them killing nearly 700 people from April 1 to early September.

Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein goes on trial on Wednesday on charges of crimes against humanity in the first of what could be several cases over atrocities committed during his quarter-century in power. Saddam’s lawyer said he would seek an adjournment of at least three months.

A leading rights group has warned that the special Iraqi tribunal set up with United States sponsorship to try Saddam Hussein may not be able to give the former dictator and his top aides a fair trial. Saddam, now 68, will be in on court on Wednesday along with three former top lieutenants and four regional officials of his Ba’ath Party.

Iraqis voted in force on Saturday on a draft Constitution that turns another page on the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein as insurgents evaded a massive security clampdown to kill four people. About 15,5-million Iraqis had a chance to vote on the charter, which lays out a democratic framework for a new Iraq.

Iraqis voted amid tight security on Saturday in a landmark referendum on a Constitution aimed at turning a new page on the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein. About 15,5-million Iraqis were registered to vote on the charter, but a key question was how many would brave threats by insurgents who have vowed to disrupt the democratic process.

Iraq’s top leaders formally announced on Wednesday a last-ditch political deal aimed at securing the adoption of a post-Saddam Hussein Constitution in a national referendum just three days away. Despite the political accord, violence continued on the ground.

Ten people were killed in a car bombing near the oil ministry in Baghdad in one of a spate of attacks on Thursday, adding to fears of spiralling violence in the run-up to the October 15 referendum on Iraq’s new Constitution. The bombings and shootings came a day after a bomb attack in the town of Hilla, south of Baghdad, killed 25 people.

Under United Nations pressure, Iraq’s Parliament on Wednesday reversed changes to an electoral law that critics had charged made it harder to reject the new and deeply divisive Constitution in next week’s referendum. The move came as thousands of United States troops widened a sweep for al-Qaeda fighters in a new offensive.

Sunni-led insurgents killed at least nine people, including women and children, with a car bomb in a crowded vegetable market on Friday in the second blast against Shi’ite civilians in as many days, police said. The death toll rose to nearly 100 from the previous day’s coordinated string of suicide bombings and mortars in another town.

Iraqi gunmen on Monday murdered five teachers and a driver at a primary school as United States forces released more than 500 prisoners from the notorious Abu Ghraib jail. In the school attack, 10 gunmen dressed as police officers dragged the teachers from their classrooms, took them to an empty classroom and shot them, police said.

Six Iraqi civilians were killed and 10 wounded on Friday in a bomb blast on a public bus in Baghdad as supporters and opponents of the draft Constitution started in earnest to campaign ahead of the October 15 referendum. United States President George Bush has warned that Iraq should brace for more violence in the next three weeks.

A suicide car bomber struck worshippers leaving a Shi’ite mosque in a northern Iraqi city on Friday, killing at least 12 people and wounding 21 others. Twelve other people were killed as the Sunni-dominated insurgency pressed its ”all-out war” against the government and majority Shi’ite population.

More than a dozen explosions ripped through the Iraqi capital on Wednesday, killing at least 152 people and wounding 542 in a deadly series of attacks that began with a huge suicide car bombing that targeted labourers assembled to find work for the day. Al-Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility.