US fighter jets and attack helicopters killed about 70 militants around the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, the military said yesterday after a landmark vote that appears to have ratified a new constitution.

Election officials slowly counted up to 10 million ballots from Saturday's referendum, with partial results pointing to a clear win for a charter Washington hopes will help establish Iraq as a stable democracy able to do without US troops.

The violence in Ramadi, a rebellious city about 110 kilometers west of Baghdad, highlighted the challenge posed by Sunni Arab insurgents bitterly opposed to the constitution.

Few people in Ramadi voted, yet for the first time, many Sunnis elsewhere in Iraq took part in the referendum, even if a large majority of them voted "No," provisional figures show.

A US military statement said the Ramadi battle occurred on Sunday and involved US jets, helicopters and ground troops.

It said at least 20 militants were killed when an F-15 aircraft bombed a group of men burying a roadside bomb - one of the deadliest weapons in the insurgent arsenal.

Another 50 insurgents were killed in a series of separate strikes, the statement added, saying military commanders had no indications of any US or civilian casualties in the operation.

Bassem al-Dulaimi, a doctor, said on Sunday that his hospital in Ramadi had received 25 dead and eight wounded following the air strikes; it was unclear if any were civilians.

"The planes came and bombed us right after prayers," one man shouted yesterday as others buried bodies in the desert near Ramadi. "What is this barbarism? This is not a government. These are innocent civilians. To hell with this constitution."

Bush hails vote

US President George W. Bush hailed the Iraqi vote, which went off amid tight security, almost without bloodshed in the absence of insurgent attacks the US military had predicted.

US officials have sought to portray the vote as a sign that Iraq is moving toward full-fledged democracy, which they hope will reduce support for the Sunni Arab insurrection and allow the eventual withdrawal of 156,000 US troops.

Six more US soldiers were killed in the Sunni Arab-dominated west of the country over the weekend, bringing the total US toll to 1,971 since the 2003 invasion.

Iraqi electoral officials said as many as 63 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in Saturday's election, above the 58 percent seen in January, when many Sunnis boycotted the first elections after the fall of Saddam Hussein, who is a Sunni.

Poll officials in Baghdad said they were still re-counting ballots which had been trucked to the capital under heavy security from polling stations around the country.

Adel Alami, a senior official with the electoral commission, said the process was moving foward but certified results could be days away. "It will last for several days until the results are collected from all provinces," he said.

Partial results released by local officials showed the measure had passed despite high turnout in some Sunni areas where opposition to the constitution ran strongest.

Sunnis make up just 20 percent of the population and fear the new constitution will hand control of the country and its oil resources to the Shi'ite majority and its Kurdish allies.

According to the referendum rules, a two-thirds "No" vote in three of Iraq's 18 provinces would block the constitution even if most Iraqis backed it. But by late Sunday it appeared that only two provinces had returned a potentially blocking "No" vote, making the chances of a veto remote.

Most Shi'ite and Kurdish-dominated provinces were running heavily in favor of the constitution.

Anbar Province around Ramadi was expected to strongly reject it, as was Salahaddin Province, which contains Saddam's hometown of Tikrit.

The contest was closer in the northern province of Niniveh around the city of Mosul, which is split between Sunni Arabs and Kurds. A senior Iraqi official said yesterday that while 424,00 of the province's 778,000 voters said "No" to the charter, this fell short of the two thirds necessary to reject it.

(China Daily October 18, 2005)