Iraq charter talks spill over to another day

Earlier, the Iraqi government said it would adopt the draft, despite its rejection by minority Sunni Arabs and clashes between rival factions among the Shi’ite majority.

‘‘It will be approved. The National Assembly will then rubber stamp it,’’ government spokesman Laith Kubba told a news conference. He added that the government was prepared to take the risk of it being rejected at an October referendum—a result that would usher another year of provisional rule.

Kubba said the provisions of the interim constitution that Parliament had to draft the new constitution by a deadline in August had been met and there was no need for Parliament to vote.

However, Sunnis, with scant representation in Parliament following a boycott of January’s election, have warned of civil war if the constitution goes through as it stands.

Some Shi’ites, notably the influential cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, have joined them in condemning the charter.

At least six people were killed and dozens wounded in Najaf late on Wednesday, in what Kubba described as as a local dispute between Sadr’s Mehdi Army militia and supporters of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). —Reuters