Thursday, October 13 2005 12:15 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Baghdad: Iraqi lawmakers yesterday (Oct 12, 2005) endorsed last-minute changes to the new constitution in a bid to ease damaging ethnic divisions just three days before the charter is put to a national vote.

But Sunni-backed insurgents who have vowed to disrupt Saturday's referendum wreaked more bloodshed as a suicide bomber killed 30 people at an army recruitment centre in the restive northwestern town of Tal Afar.

The attack, claimed by Al-Qaeda, came as political leaders hammered out concessions over the constitution in a bid to win over the ousted Sunni elite, which has threatened to reject the charter or even boycott the vote altogether.

Under the deal, Iraqi Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish leaders agreed to several new elements and modifications for the draft and to the creation of a panel to consider further revisions once new legislative elections are held in December.

"These amendments open new horizons and give everyone the chance to participate in the political process and in the building of the second Iraqi republic," parliament speaker Hajim al-Hasani, a Sunni, told lawmakers.

"Today is a day for national consensus," added Iraq's Kurdish President Jalal Talabani.

The assembly gave its seal of the approval to the revisions, which serve to reiterate the country's unity and Arab character.

However, a number of Sunni parties remain hostile to the constitution, reflecting the friction that has marked the long and tortuous negotiations on the document that lays out the future for a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.

The draft constitution will be adopted if a simple majority of voters approve the text and if two thirds of voters in three or more provinces do not reject it.

In Washington the White House hailed the accord, but a top State Department official said, "I don't think the whole thing is conclusive at this point."

A member of the Committee of Muslim Scholars, the preeminent religious Sunni body in Iraq, slammed Sunni politicians in the Islamic Party for going it alone and urging members to back the draft.

"We pray to God they will reverse their decision," committee official Abdel Kubaisi said.

A yes vote lends legitimacy to the occupation."

Amid the political drama, the death toll mounted after a bomber set off his explosives belt in a crowd waiting outside the recruitment centre in Tal Afar, just a day after another attack there killed 30 people in a crowded market.

Both blasts were claimed by Al-Qaeda in Iraq, headed by the country's most wanted man Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian born Sunni extremist.

Attacks have continued despite security being strengthened nationwide for the vote, with the partial closure of some international borders, air and sea ports, traffic restrictions and a weapons ban.

Iraqi leaders voiced confidence that the charter would win the backing of the people, with Sunni Vice President Ghazi al-Yawar telling reporters, "It was done in haste but it is the best we can do."

Sunni Arabs who lost power after Saddam's ouster and have been politically sidelined after largely boycotting January's elections, have voiced strong opposition to federal provisions within the draft.