IRAQ - Oct 10 - Gunmen Attack Arab League Delegation Visiting Iraq.

Two Iraqi security guards are killed when gunmen ambush an Arab League delegation with anti-tank rockets and heavy machine guns amid sharp criticism of the pan-Arab group over its role in Iraq. The visiting diplomats - on the first Arab League mission to Iraq since the US-led invasion of March 2003 - were unharmed in the attack. However, two police commandos from a special Interior Ministry protection force were killed and another seven wounded, a ministry source said. The convoy ran into an ambush as it was heading to the HQ's of the Committee of Muslim Scholars, the main Sunni Arab religious organisation in Iraq, to join a sunset meal that breaks the fast of Ramadan. "We were targeted by gunfire but no member of the delegation was hit", delegation head Ahmad Ben Helli of Algeria told AFP. "This will not affect our mission". The envoys had arrived in Baghdad on Oct 9 to prepare for a visit by Arab League Sec-Gen Amr Moussa, with the aim of fostering a dialogue between various Iraqi communities. Rasul Amin Abid, one of the injured guards, said the convoy came under attack just a kilometer from the Umm Al-Qura Mosque that serves as the HQ of the Muslim scholars. In another development, Iraq's US-backed leaders and Washington's envoy held last-minute talks to try to defuse Sunni anger that risks turning a constitutional referendum into a trigger for further strife. UN chief Kofi Annan lamented the failure to reach a consensus that could have rallied Iraqis in a show of unity while Sunni militants warned a "Yes" vote that marginalises their once dominant community would drive recruits into the revolt. Elsewhere, at least 13 people were killed and 30 were wounded in a string of bombings and shootings as insurgents stepped up their campaign of violence ahead of the referendum. A US soldier was also killed in a suicide car bomb attack at a checkpoint outside the highly fortified Green Zone in Baghdad which houses the Iraqi government offices and Western embassies. Britain said it will cut its military presence in Iraq by around 500 troops to 8,000 next month by closing two small bases and handing over some training duties to the Iraqi security forces.