Iraq probes 'unusually high' yes vote tally

On Tuesday, insurgents shot and killed an adviser to one of Iraq's top Sunni Arab officials as he drove to work in Baghdad, police said.

Two US Marines were killed in fighting in western Iraq near the Jordanian border, the military said Tuesday.

The Marines died Monday when they were hit by small-arms fire as US forces fought insurgents near the town of Rutba, 370km west of Baghdad, the military said. Four militants were killed and a small supply of their arms seized, the statement said.

The shooting of Ayed Abdul Ghani occurred in new Baghdad, an eastern section of the capital, at about 7:45 a.m., said police Maj. Falah Al-Mohammedawi.

Meanwhile, word of the review came as Sunni Arab leaders repeated accusations of fraud after initial reports from the provinces suggested the constitution had passed. Among the Sunni allegations are that police took ballot boxes from heavily "no" districts, and that some "yes" areas had more votes than registered voters.

Confusion has surrounded the ballot count since Iraqis voted on the draft constitution Saturday, and election officials announced Monday that the results would be delayed after unusually high figures were reported.

"The first controls are now taking place," in what would eventually be a nationwide audit, a senior electoral official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"We are not ruling out technical error or fraud, but for now it is only a question of anomalies."

Problems with initial figures transmitted to the Independent Electoral Commission were found in southern Shia provinces as well as in Kurdish areas in the north, where the numbers of 'yes' votes were very high, the source said.

The Electoral Commission made no mention of fraud, and an official with knowledge of the election process cautioned that it was too early to say whether the unusual numbers were incorrect or if they would affect the outcome.

But questions about the numbers raised tensions over Saturday's referendum, which has already sharply divided Iraqis. Most of the Shia majority and the Kurds the coalition which controls the government support the charter, while most Sunni Arabs sharply opposed a document they fear will tear Iraq to pieces and leave them weak and out of power.

Irregularities in Shia and Kurdish areas, expected to vote strongly "yes," may not affect the outcome. The main electoral battlegrounds were provinces with mixed populations, two of which went strongly "yes." There were conflicting reports whether those two provinces were among those with questionable figures.