Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- The talks over a draft security deal between Washington and Baghdad has been halted waiting for U.S. reply over suggested Iraqi draft, Iraqi official newspaper reported on Wednesday.

    "The talks over SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) between the two sides have been halted until our (Iraqi) negotiators receive a response from the U.S. side, who has already sent our suggestions to Washington," the state-run al-Sabah newspaper quoted a source close to the SOFA as saying.

    According to the newspaper, the source also revealed that "there is an intention by the two sides to sign a temporal protocol or a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to give the U.S. troops a legal ground in staying here after the UN mandate on Iraqi operations ends at year's end."

    The source, who has not been named by the paper, asserted that the temporal protocol or the MOU would be a short-term agreement, as for six months or a year.

    On Monday, the paper quoted Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki as saying that the Iraqi government will send the draft security agreement between Baghdad and Washington to the Iraqi parliament within 10 days.

    "We will send the agreement to the parliament within 10 days," Maliki said according to the newspaper.

    "The government is waiting for a response from the American government about an Iraqi suggested draft, that may maintain sovereignty and interests of our people," Maliki said.

    Maliki stressed that the Iraqi lawmakers would decide either endorse the agreement or reject it.

    Earlier, Maliki admitted that despite substantial progress in the talks, but there is still profound differences between the two sides.

    The negotiations formally began on March. The two sides had planned to sign the agreement, along with a pact regarding broader bilateral relations, by the end of July, but the two sides failed to meet their deadline.

    The U.S. side has been rejecting a specific timetable for pulling out troops, arguing that must depend on the situation on the ground in Iraq.

    In earlier statement, the U.S. embassy in Baghdad clarified that the United States and Iraq are working on two kinds of agreements, one is the Strategic Framework Agreement (SFA) and the SOFA.