IRAQ: At least 60 people were killed yesterday when three suicide attackers detonated car bombs almost simultaneously in a mainly Shia town north of Baghdad.
Seventy other people were wounded, a hospital official said in Balad, 50 miles from the Iraqi capital.
In another attack, five US soldiers were killed in a blast in western Iraq, the military said.
The car-bombers struck just before sunset, hitting a bank, a market and another location in the town centre. Dr Khaled al-Azawi of Balad hospital said at least 60 people were killed and 70 were wounded, including the town's police chief.
The five US soldiers were killed on Wednesday in Ramadi, a hotbed of insurgency 80 miles west of Baghdad, a Marine statement said. They were conducting combat operations when a roadside bomb hit them - the deadliest single attack on US forces since a roadside bomb killed 14 marines in Haditha on August 3rd.
Violence has escalated in the lead-up to a crucial October 15th referendum on a new constitution which has sharply divided Shias and Sunnis. More than 140 people - including 13 US service members - have been killed in the past four days. The Ramadi blast brought to 1,934 the number of US service members who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003.
The top US commander in Iraq told Congress yesterday that the process of withdrawing US troops from the country depended greatly on the referendum results and elections, due to take place afterward if the constitution passes.
"The next 75 days are going to be critical for what happens," Gen George Casey told the Senate armed services committee.
Sunni Arab leaders are calling on their followers to vote against the constitution, which they say will fragment the country into Kurdish, Shia and Sunni areas, with the Sunnis having the least power and revenue.
The US ambassador has been trying to work out last-minute changes to the draft that might ease Sunni opposition. That process was strained when Sunni officials said US forces raided the homes of two officials from a prominent Sunni Arab organisation yesterday, arresting bodyguards and confiscating weapons.
The US military said it had conducted several raids in Baghdad yesterday, but could not immediately identify the homes or Iraqis involved.
The chief of Iraqi police in the district, Maj Moussa Abdul-Karim, said he heard reports of the raids after they took place but the US military had not co-ordinated with the Iraqis.
The Iraqi Islamic Party condemned the raids as "a savage act" and an "unjustifiable aggression".