IRAQI leaders again failed to agree on the wording of a constitution yesterday, missing their latest deadline and setting the stage for the country’s Shias and Kurds to push through the document over the objections of the Sunnis.

As fresh violence broke out across the country, including fighting between rival Shia political groups, talks in Baghdad to codify the basis for a postwar state in Iraq were once more mired in arguments about religion, federalism and how to treat members of the former Baathist regime.

The outcome could have huge ramifications for Iraq’s future, although ordinary Iraqis are more concerned about surviving the growing violence and oppressive heat.

In the latest atrocity, police in the southern province of Wasit discovered the half- naked bodies of 36 men dumped by a roadside near the Iranian border.

Gunmen opened fire on a 15-vehicle convoy belonging to President Talabani south of Kirkuk. Mr Talabani was in Baghdad, trying to resolve the constitutional stalemate, but eight of his bodyguards were killed and fifteen wounded.

Iraq also suffered a second day of violent clashes between Shia fighters loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, the populist religious leader, and his rival Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. Disturbances between their supporters in the holy city of Najaf led to shootings across Shia cities in the south that left six people dead.

The constitution was supposed to be ready by August 15. Iraqi parliamentarians then voted to extend the deadline by one week. On Monday they approved a new three-day extension that was due to expire last night. The speaker of the Parliament then announced a one-day extension minutes after the midnight deadline.

A copy of the draft constitution seen by The Times revealed why the discussions have been so fraught. Many of the 153 articles reflect the wording of constitutions the world over, but half a dozen passages have provoked huge controversy.

Iraq’s Sunni minority, the dominant political class during Saddam Hussein’s era, are particularly concerned about the provisions for a federal state that would give regions a cut of the country’s huge oil wealth, which is located only in the Shia-dominated south and Kurdish north.

Hussein al-Falluja, a Sunni member of the constitution panel, said: “If this constitution continues to include federalism, it should be put in the bin and done again.”

The Sunnis are also furious about provisions that would ban the former Baath Party and bar its former senior officials from holding public office.

Another controversial aspect is the role of Islam, which would be enshrined as the official religion of Iraq and a basic source of its law. Experts in Sharia (Islamic law) would even be given seats in the country’s new supreme court.

Secular groups, non-Muslims and women are horrified at the prospect, which some fear will lead to the country becoming an Islamic republic, like Iran.

Safia Souhail, the Iraqi Ambassador to Cairo, said:

“Human rights should not be linked to Sharia at all. We have lost all the gains we made over the past 30 years. It is a big disappointment.”

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