As talks continued this weekend to draw up a new constitution before tomorrow’s deadline, a statement from “Al-Qaeda in the Land of the Two Rivers”, one of Iraq’s most powerful insurgent groups, denounced the document as “un-Islamic” and warned any mullahs and clerics supporting it that “you are responsible before God for every word you offer”.

For the wrangling politicians — given an extra week to agree the document after failing to meet last Monday’s deadline — the threat was more specific. “We will harshly retaliate against anyone who participates and encourages the writing of the constitution and therefore to rule against God’s way,” the group said.

The chilling statement was signed by Abu Maysara Al-Iraqi, a militant usually described as the head of Al-Qaeda’s “media department” in Iraq.

On another website, a splinter group calling itself the “Islamic Tribunal of the Organisation of Al-Qaeda in the Land of Two Rivers” claimed that it had “decided to apply the order of Allah: kill whoever assumes the right to be a partner of God and draws up a null and void constitution”. The group also threatened to strike against polling stations during a referendum on the constitution scheduled for October.

The insurgents claim that the only binding law for Iraq should be the Koran and are opposed to the country being known as anything other than an Islamic republic — a title ruled out by the American and British diplomatic delegations who are advising the local politicians.

The constitution has also been rejected by secular insurgent groups. One, the Army of the Victorious Sect, made up of former military officers who served under Saddam Hussein, the ousted dictator, dismissed it as a White House plot and vowed to continue fighting until American and British troops withdraw from Iraq. The group indicated that it, too, has drawn up a “hit list” of Shi’ite politicians to be eliminated.

With the political factions still apparently at loggerheads over basic issues such as the role of Islam, federalism and women’s rights, the militants already appear to be making good on their frightening promises.

In the northern city of Mosul, three Sunni Arabs putting up posters advising people to vote in the referendum were dragged away by masked gunmen and shot. Their killings followed co-ordinated car bombs at a Baghdad bus station and hospital in which 43 people died and more than 80 were wounded.

Most victims were Shi’ites: government security officials said it was believed that they had been deliberately targeted in the hope of provoking a backlash that would deepen Iraq’s sectarian divide.

The Sunni minority, who dominated Iraq under Saddam and now form the backbone of the insurgency, fear that any new constitution will inevitably give too much power to the Shi’ite majority.

For their part, the Shi’ite majority want a system of autonomous regions that would give them control of the country’s vast oil wealth, while the Kurds in the north insist on a large degree of independence, although they stopped short of demanding the right to secede.

There is also a looming split within the Shi’ite community. Many poor Shi’ites in Baghdad, suspicious of their co-religionists in the oil-rich regions of the south, support the radical policies of Moqtada al-Sadr, a cleric who in the past has threatened revolt against the British and American forces.

Saleh al-Mutlak, an official with the Sunni Arab delegation, said he believed that agreement would be reached before tomorrow’s revised deadline, but criticised the Americans and British for rushing the process.

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