Al Qaeda vows to kill Iraqis drafting constitution

DUBAI - Iraq's al Qaeda group has vowed to kill anyone involved in drafting a constitution which Washington hopes can help quell a Sunni Muslim insurgency.

"The judicial court of the Organisation of al Qaeda in Iraq has ruled that it is a duty to uphold God's law and kill those who have declared themselves God's partners in drafting this void constitution," the group said in an internet statement.

"We have decided to combat all those who write and who support this constitution ... as they are apostates."

The statement was posted on a website often used by al Qaeda. The group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said in an earlier statement that Islamic sharia law should be the only legislation to govern Iraq.

The role of Islam is one one of several major sticking points which have divided drafters of Iraq's new constitution along sectarian and ethnic lines. Some Iraqis want sharia law to be the basis of the charter which is due to be presented to parliament by August 15.

US authorities have been pushing hard for the deadline to be met, seeing the drafting of the document as the best chance for attracting Sunni Arabs, from whom the insurgency draws most of its supporters, into the political process and sapping momentum from the guerrillas fighting US and Iraqi forces.

- REUTERS