Iraq, neighbours talk border control

It's a demand that Bayan Jabr's fellow interior ministers will hear Tuesday when they meet in a former Ottoman palace to address regional security.

The ministers are expected to pledge to take steps toward increased border security and intelligence sharing.

Iraq accuses foreign Islamic fighters of being behind some of the deadliest attacks and says neighbouring countries are either facilitating or turning a blind eye to infiltration.

Iraq's neighbours have been deeply concerned that violence and ethnic instability in Iraq could spread throughout the region.

Jabr, speaking in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press Monday, said that neighbours must take stronger measures against the insurgents.

"I will say clearly in my speech about the countries maybe without names but they know themselves the countries who support directly or indirectly the insurgents," Jabr said.

Meanwhile, 23 people were killed in attacks in Iraq Tuesday as the deadly insurgency showed no sign of a let-up, while President Jalal Talabani signalled that a new constitution could be ready ahead of time.

In the deadliest strike, 13 people were killed when gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Iraqi workers to a US army base outside Baquba, a restive town northeast of Baghdad.

Another two people were killed and four others wounded when a Iraqi police patrol was hit by a roadside bomb in Kirkuk, police said.

One of the dead was a policeman, while the other was a member of Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). Another policeman was killed by an explosive device planted outside Tikrit University.

Four others were killed in separate incidents across Iraq.