US kills 70 'terrorists' in air attacks

BAGHDAD - US warplanes and helicopter gunships killed about 70 suspected militants near the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, the American military said.

Ramadi police said about 20 of those killed in the US strikes were civilians, including some children who had gathered around the wreckage of a US military vehicle. But the US military said it believed they were all "terrorists".

Meanwhile, election officials slowly counted up to 10 million ballots from Saturday's referendum, with partial results pointing to a clear win for a charter Washington hopes will help establish Iraq as a stable democracy able to do without US troops.

Movement of ballot boxes to the Baghdad counting centre was complicated by a sandstorm across much of Iraq which grounded helicopters and prevented any transport of boxes by air.

Opponents of the constitution in the Sunni Arab minority complained of fraud and questioned the time taken for the count.

The Electoral Commission, where officials indicate privately that the charter is all but ratified, said all was in order but very high local votes, both "Yes" and "No", of up to 80 or 90 per cent had to be audited in line with international practice.

The violence in Ramadi, a rebellious city about 110 km west of Baghdad, highlighted the challenge posed by Sunni Arab insurgents opposed to the US-backed constitution.

Few people in Ramadi voted, yet for the first time, many Sunnis elsewhere in Iraq took part in the referendum, even if a large majority of them voted "No", provisional figures show.

Iraqis digested the news that the constitution had probably passed, with some hailing it as a good sign and others warning it could push the country closer to complete breakdown.

- REUTERS