Iraqi charter adopted

"It is an accomplishment for all Iraqis," said commission spokesman Farid Ayyar said in announcing the results 10 days after the landmark referendum on a charter that lays down a democratic future for the post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.

The draft passed by a simple majority while opponents failed to muster a two-thirds majority against in at least three of Iraq's 18 provinces.

Meanwhile, the US death toll in Iraq reportedly hit 2,000 amid a sharp spike in violence that killed 14 Iraqis across the country.

The US network CNN, quoting Pentagon sources, reported that the number of soldiers killed since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq had reached 2,000 with the deaths of two more soldiers, a toll likely to add pressure on the US administration over its role in the violence-wracked country.

For the first time, a majority of Americans believe the Iraq war was the "wrong thing to do", according to a poll published in The Wall Street Journal.

Ten people were killed in a string of bombings in the Kurdish stronghold of Sulaimaniyah in northern Iraq, while another four were killed in Baghdad, the day after a spectacular bombing blitz on hotels housing international reporters and contractors killed 17.

The Sulaimaniyah attacks targeted a building housing Kurdish peshmerga militiamen and the convoy of a senior Kurdish politician, while security sources also defused a bomb outside a hotel used by journalists.

In Baghdad, four people were killed, including two security officials shot dead in the violent southern neighbourhood of Dura.

The capital was recovering from a triple suicide car bomb attack against hotels which killed at least 17 people Monday as Iraqis sat down to break their fast during the holy month of Ramadan.

A cement truck packed with explosives was stopped before it reached the Sheraton hotel, and disappeared in a massive flash that sent up a towering column of gray and black smoke.

The blasts rocked Firdus Square, where the statue of ousted president Saddam Hussein was pulled down when US troops marched into Baghdad in April 2003, and shook the Palestine, Sheraton and Sadir hotels.

"If the cement truck had not been stopped in time by guards who opened fire, it would have totally devastated the Sheraton," a security source said.

In the past week, almost 100 people have been killed as the number and strength of attacks surged following the start of former dictator Saddam Hussein's trial for crimes against humanity last Wednesday.

The latest blasts also underscored tension over the outcome of Iraq's draft constitution, which had rested on the undeclared results of Sunni-dominated Nineveh province after a second region rejected it.

US and Iraqi officials hope the constitutional process will lead smoothly to general elections in mid-December and draw Sunni Arabs towards a political solution to end sectarian strife.