British forces, grappling with increased attacks on their troops in southern Iraq, announced the arrest of 12 Shiite militiamen and expressed grave concern that some of the detained were serving police officers.

And the government has issued an arrest warrant for former defence minister Hazem al-Shaalan, suspected of involvement in the alleged disappearance of more than one billion dollars from the ministry during his term, a Saudi-owned London newspaper reported.

In Iraq, many households received their copy of the proposed constitution along with subsidised foodstuffs in exchange for state-issued ration tickets, but the text was also available in public buildings, hospitals, universities and even jails.

Up to five million copies were to be printed with the help of the United Nations ahead of the October 15 referendum.

"The printing is rolling slower than expected but we will be able to finish by October 14," a senior official in charge of the process said Thursday.

"There's a huge demand. Iraqis want to read the constitution, whether they favour or oppose it," the official said, adding that some Iraqis were going straight to printing shops to get their copies.

In the southern city of Basra meanwhile, British troops arrested 12 people, including policemen and militiamen, on terrorist charges following recent attacks on their forces, a British commander said Friday.

"Some of the individuals we have arrested are linked to militia groups in Basra ... some of the individuals are members of the Basra police service," Brigadier John Lorimer said in a statement following the arrests late Thursday.

"It is very concerning to us that members of Basra police are involved in terrorism."

Since the US-led March 2003 invasion of the country, 95 British military personnel have died in Iraq.

British and US officials are also worried about the smuggling of weapons reported to include shaped explosive charges, capable of penetrating thick armour, and more sophisticated triggering devices into Iraq from Iran.

One US official said the devices were destined for Iraqi militias in the south as well as in other parts of the country, but that Sunni insurgents and extremists were also interested in getting their hands on them.

In London, the Saudi-owned daily Al-Hayat said that former Iraqi defence minister Shalaan's name appeared on a list of about 20 people accused of administrative corruption in the defence ministry.

He is no longer living in Iraq and is reported to be in Jordan.

"Those (on the list) who are abroad could be brought back to Iraq with the assistance of Interpol," the newspaper said, quoting "legal sources" in Baghdad.

In western Iraq, US forces killed at least 29 rebels in fighting between late Wednesday and early Friday, the military said.

Multinational force aircraft killed 20 when they bombed a hotel in Husaybah, near the Syrian border, which had been taken over by rebels loyal to Al-Qaeda in Iraq, a US military statement said.

Six US marines were killed in the fighting late Thursday, bringing to at least 1,946 the number of US military personnel killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003 according to an AFP tally based on Pentagon figures.

The latest large-scale US-led offensives in Al Anbar province aimed to pin down Al-Qaeda fighters and prevent them from influencing local populations, in particular ahead of the constitutional referendum.

According to an opinion poll sponsored by the US-based International Republican Institute, 85 percent of Iraqis planned to vote.

Rebel groups linked to Al-Qaeda have called for a boycott, but the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who opposes the text, said Friday his followers should consult local religious leaders.

In addition to the official text, the document has been presented or debated on television, in newspapers, and in public conferences, and Iraqi TV stations, both state-controlled and private, are bombarding viewers with ads in a bid to bolster the vote.

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