Six U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq Bombings

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Six U.S. soldiers died in roadside bombings and a shooting, the military said Sunday, as lawmakers rushed to persuade Sunni Arabs to accept federalism provisions in the draft constitution that is due in one day.

With intense negotiations continuing just hours before parliament was to ratify the charter, one Shiite legislator, Jawad al-Maliki, told The Associated Press that the deadline might have to be extended.

"If we don't reach an agreement today, we might amend the interim constitution and extend the deadline by a minimum of two weeks," he said.

However, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said the document was on track to be finished on time.

"The Iraqis tell me that they can finish it and they will finish it tomorrow," said Khalilzad in a televised interview." "There are options, obviously, should they need it, but at this point, my information is — and I've just come from a meeting with the Iraqi leaders _that they intend to finish it tomorrow."

Amendments to the country's current charter can be made only with the approval of three-fourths of parliament and unanimous approval of the president and his two deputies. Parliament announced that their next meeting would be Monday at 6 p.m. local time (10 a.m. EDT).

Elsewhere, the U.S. military said three soldiers were killed and one other wounded in a roadside bombing late Saturday near Tuz Khormato, 95 miles north of Baghdad.

One soldier on a patrol was killed Sunday and three others wounded in a blast east of Rutbah, 250 miles west of Baghdad, the military said. In another roadside bombing, one soldier was killed Saturday and another wounded in western Baghdad.

On Friday a U.S. commander said the number of roadside bomb attacks against American convoys in Iraq had doubled in the past year to about 30 per week. Dozens of bombings, usually detonated by remote control, target U.S. and Iraqi patrols each day.

The military said in a brief statement from Baghdad that one soldier was found dead Friday of a gunshot wound. The military said an investigation was underway and did not say where the soldier was found or if an attack was suspected in the soldier's death.

The beheaded body of an unidentified woman was found in the violent southern neighborhood of Dora, police 1st Lt. Thaer Mahmoud said. Two bodies, including one that was beheaded, were found in eastern Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad, police and hospital officials said.

Continues if you can stomache it...