BAGHDAD, Aug 27 (AFP) - 15h19 - Iraq's Sunnis on Saturday were holding out against a draft constitution deal thrashed out by the Shiites and the Kurds, offering their own proposals for the new charter just a day before it goes to parliament for approval.The Sunnis were sticking by their demand that the word "federalism" be removed from the constitution amid threats that the document would go to parliament on Sunday heedless of whether they agreed to it or not.

Officials said it remained to be seen whether agreement could be reached ahead of the vote, amid concern from the United States over the risks of leaving the Sunnis out with their anxieties unanswered.

Parliament speaker Hajim al-Hasani said that the Sunni Arabs had given a counter-proposal to the Shiites and Kurds after the two groups late Friday forwarded what they called was their "final offer".

"We are looking into the counter-proposal given by the Sunnis," Hasani, a Sunni, told AFP.

"Anything is possible till tomorrow" he said when asked whether the draft forwarded by the Shiites and the Kurds to the Sunnis was final.

Earlier Saturday Hasani said the proposal forwarded to the Sunnis "is final and the parliament will vote on it tomorrow (Sunday)... even if the Sunnis do not accept it." Between them, Kurds and Shiites have an overwhelming majority in parliament.

Hasani said the Shiites and the Kurds made some concessions in the draft and proposed them to the Sunnis last night, adding "the two groups have proposed that federalism will be implemented by the next assembly."

On Saturday he told reporters that "the constitution gives the right (in principle) to establish federalism, but leaves the mechanism to form federal regions for the next elected parliament."

Iraq's next assembly will be elected by mid-December after the nation votes on the draft constitution on October 15.

Hasani said the Sunni Arabs's counter proposal revolved around the phrasing used to describe the implementation of federalism. "The Sunni counter-proposal has not been agreed or accepted by the Shiites and the Kurds," Hasani told AFP.

But the Sunnis remained adamant on their anti-federalism stance.

"We requested a categorical omission of the term federalism from the constitution, and leaving it for the next elected parliament to look into the matter," Sunni negotiator Sheikh Khalaf Olayan, told AFP.

Another senior Sunni panelist Saleh al-Motlag said the Shiites and the Kurds were "imposing" federalism on Iraqis, while another Sunni draft committee member Nasser al-Janabi was cautiously optimistic.

"The draft needs some amendments... Work is still going on, and God willing a satisfactory draft will be reached... today."

A Kurdish negotiator also said earlier Saturday the concessions offered to the Sunnis on Friday were final and they had to respond before the parliament holds a special session on Sunday to approve the draft.

"From the Shiites and the Kurds the draft is now final and we await the response of the Sunnis," Mahmud Othman told AFP.

US President George W. Bush had personally intervened this week to break a deadlock over the negotiations by making a call to leading Shiite leader Abdel Aziz al-Hakim asking him to appease the Sunnis.

Othman said the Shiites have offered to implement federalism in "practicality" after the next national assembly is formed.

Iraq's Shiites and Kurds together hold around 210 seats in the 275-member parliament, while the Sunni Arabs have around two dozen after largely boycotting January elections.

But the once powerful community is gearing up for the upcoming mid-December elections which could see a major shift in power in the assembly, one of the reason they want the key issues of the draft constitution to be taken up by the next assembly.

Meanwhile, President Jalal Talabni will meet US President George W. Bush next month and also address the UN General Assembly, Talabani's office said.

The US military said some 1,000 detainees in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, which is operated by the US Army, have been released between August 24 and 25.

The detainees represented different Iraqi communities and had been brought to Abu Ghraib from different detention centres throughout Iraq ahead of their release.

In simmering unrest, three people were killed, including one Iraqi army officer in the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk, police said.

The US military said Saturday it had killed on Friday a Saudi national who masterminded suicide attacks in northern Iraq.