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BAGHDAD, July 25 (Xinhuanet by Jiang Xiaofeng, Jamal
Hashem ) -- Iraq's Sunni Arab constitution writers agreed to sit at the drafting
table again in the run-up toa new charter on Monday after their demands were met
while insurgents struck the nascent police again, leaving eight killed and 35
others wounded.
The last-moment compromise came as the Iraqi
parliament met conditions put forward by Sunni groups to end their boycott of
the constitution drafting process.
"All of the demands presented by our brothers have
been met," parliament Speaker Hajem al-Hassani said in a statement signed by
him, following a week-long Sunni walkout triggered by the murder of three
colleagues.
The Sunnis demanded a thorough investigation into the
killings of three Sunni constitution writers last week, improvement of
protection measures for Sunnis and a greater Sunni role in composing the
charter.
The statement said a juridical panel will be
established to carry out an independent investigation into the killings.
Sunni Arabs will have the right to demand further
measures if they are discontented with the results of the investigation, the
statement added, without revealing further details.
Earlier on Monday, a spokesman of the Iraqi Council
of the National Dialogue, a Sunni body, told Xinhua that Sunni Arab members of
the committee had ended their boycott.
"We have just finished our meeting with the
presidency of the National Assembly (parliament) which approved all of our
demands," confirmed Salih al-Mutlak.
Last Tuesday, Mejbil al-Sheikh Issa, Aziz Ibrahim and
Dhamin Hassan al-Ubaidi were gunned down in central Baghdad, leading to a Sunni
walkout in the constitution committee.
The three were among the 17 Sunni Arab members in the
71-member committee tasked with drafting a permanent constitution by Aug. 15.
As Sunnis agreed to end the boycott, suicide
insurgents torn apart two police checkpoints in separate attacks in Baghdad on
Monday, killing eight people and wounding 35 others.
"A suicide car bomber drove an explosive-laden
vehicle at a police checkpoint under the bridge of Harthiyah neighborhood at the
edge of the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, killing two and wounding 11
others," a police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Fourteen other civilians were also wounded in the
blast, according to another police source, adding that the wounded were
evacuated to Yarmouk Hospital for medical treatment.
Earlier in the day, another suicide bomber drove a
minibus into a checkpoint outside al-Sadir Hotel in central Baghdad shortly
after the dawn, killing six people and wounding 10 others," an Interior Ministry
source told Xinhua.
The source said most of the victims were Iraqi
employees working for a security firm guarding the building. Enditem
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