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Tight Iraq election security includes weapons ban
Curfew in many areas, driving limits, closing airport other measures
Saturday, January 22, 2005 Posted: 12:49 PM EST (1749 GMT)
Iraqi Interior Minister Falah Al-Nakib in Baghdad on Saturday announces new election security measures.
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U.S. forces do reconnaissance of Iraqi polling places.
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Four suicide car bombings go off in 90-minute span.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Extraordinary security measures, including a ban on weapons, restrictions on who may drive and a curfew, will be in place before and during elections on January 30, a top Iraqi official said Saturday.
"The government's goal is to provide a secure Iraq," Interior Minister Falah Al-Nakib said. "We have taken all necessary procedures to secure this purpose. All our security forces have been put on alert ... all citizens should abide by these rules and measures."
Also, Baghdad's airport will be closed on January 29 and 30, Al-Nakib said.
January 29, 30 and 31 have been declared holidays in Iraq, the minister said. Many areas will have a curfew from 8 p.m. until 6 a.m. on those days and anyone in violation will be arrested, he said.
Carrying weapons will be banned. Anyone violating the ban will be arrested and the weapons confiscated, he said.
Driving on the streets will be restricted, Al-Nakib said, to elections supervisors and other officials.
Instead, the Iraqi interior and transportation ministries will provide transportation for voters needing help to get to the polls.
Iraq's borders will be closed except to Iraqis returning from the annual Hajj pilgrimage, the minister said. Baghdad's airport will be closed January 29 and 30, and no transfer will be permitted between provinces.
Walking in and around the polling places will be restricted, Al-Nakib said.
Security forces working during the election period will be eligible for "encouraging payments" and be issued special badges, he said.
The announcement of the new security restrictions came the day after another rash of violence in Iraq.
A video posted on an Islamist Web site shows two Iraqis apparently being beheaded on a city sidewalk as pedestrians and vehicles pass by.
The video was posted on a Web site that has shown video verified as being produced by a group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. However, CNN has not confirmed the authenticity of this video.
Iraqi authorities said a wedding party south of Baghdad was attacked by a suicide bomber Friday evening, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens of others.
In the beheading video, the two men tell their kidnappers that they drove truckloads of food and supplies to an American base in the central Iraqi town of Ramadi.
The men said they lived in the Sadr City section of Baghdad and worked for a Lebanese company. Although they admitted staying on a U.S. base for two weeks, the two said they were lured into the $150-a-month job not knowing they would be working for Americans.
The men stood -- blindfolded with hands bound behind their backs -- in front of an Arabic banner bearing the name "al Qaeda in Iraq," a group linked to al-Zarqawi that has been responsible for other beheadings and violence.
The last section of the 10-minute video shows the men beheaded by several hooded men as the victims lie on a sidewalk and onlookers cheer "Allah akbar" -- Arabic for "God is great."
Arabic text edited into the video said the men were killed because "they worked for the infidels."
Before their deaths, each man made a statement warning other Iraqis about working for the United States.
"You ruin your life and you lose and you get killed," one man said.
At the prompting of their captors, the men several times repeated in Arabic, "Ramadi is the city of the mujahedeen."
It's unclear from the video where the beheadings were carried out.
Wedding party attacked
The attack on the wedding party was carried out in the town of Youssifiya by a suicide bomber driving an ambulance, authorities said.
At least 38 people were taken to Baghdad hospitals for treatment, authorities said. The wedding was Shiite; the population of Youssifiya is mostly Sunni.
The blast was the latest in a string of attacks Friday, including a car bombing near a Shiite mosque in the Iraqi capital that killed at least 14 worshippers and wounded 42 others, Iraqi police said.
The worshippers had gathered outside the Shouhada al-Taf mosque after morning prayers.
Friday was Eid al-Adha, or Feast of Sacrifice, marking the end of Muslims' pilgrimage, or Hajj, to Mecca.
Also Friday, a U.S. soldier was killed and another wounded while raiding a bomb-making cell north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. His death brought to 1,371 the number of U.S. troops who have died in the Iraq war.
The latest attacks came a day after a top Iraqi police official said Thursday that intelligence sources estimate 150 car bombs and 250 suicide attackers are prepared to strike as the January 30 elections near.
Other developments
Eight Chinese hostages held by a group calling itself the "Islamic Resistance Movement" in Iraq have been freed, an official from the Chinese Embassy said Saturday. (Full story)
The commander of three British troops accused of mistreating Iraqi detainees testified Friday that he had ordered his troops to crack down on looters. (Full story)
Five Danish soldiers have been charged with abusing Iraqi prisoners during interrogations in southern Iraq, a Danish government spokesman said. The soldiers allegedly forced Iraqi prisoners to maintain painful positions at Danish military headquarters near Basra, the spokesman said.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/01/22/iraq.main/index.html
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Curfew in many areas, driving limits, closing airport other measures
Saturday, January 22, 2005 Posted: 12:49 PM EST (1749 GMT)
Iraqi Interior Minister Falah Al-Nakib in Baghdad on Saturday announces new election security measures.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. forces do reconnaissance of Iraqi polling places.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Four suicide car bombings go off in 90-minute span.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Extraordinary security measures, including a ban on weapons, restrictions on who may drive and a curfew, will be in place before and during elections on January 30, a top Iraqi official said Saturday.
"The government's goal is to provide a secure Iraq," Interior Minister Falah Al-Nakib said. "We have taken all necessary procedures to secure this purpose. All our security forces have been put on alert ... all citizens should abide by these rules and measures."
Also, Baghdad's airport will be closed on January 29 and 30, Al-Nakib said.
January 29, 30 and 31 have been declared holidays in Iraq, the minister said. Many areas will have a curfew from 8 p.m. until 6 a.m. on those days and anyone in violation will be arrested, he said.
Carrying weapons will be banned. Anyone violating the ban will be arrested and the weapons confiscated, he said.
Driving on the streets will be restricted, Al-Nakib said, to elections supervisors and other officials.
Instead, the Iraqi interior and transportation ministries will provide transportation for voters needing help to get to the polls.
Iraq's borders will be closed except to Iraqis returning from the annual Hajj pilgrimage, the minister said. Baghdad's airport will be closed January 29 and 30, and no transfer will be permitted between provinces.
Walking in and around the polling places will be restricted, Al-Nakib said.
Security forces working during the election period will be eligible for "encouraging payments" and be issued special badges, he said.
The announcement of the new security restrictions came the day after another rash of violence in Iraq.
A video posted on an Islamist Web site shows two Iraqis apparently being beheaded on a city sidewalk as pedestrians and vehicles pass by.
The video was posted on a Web site that has shown video verified as being produced by a group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. However, CNN has not confirmed the authenticity of this video.
Iraqi authorities said a wedding party south of Baghdad was attacked by a suicide bomber Friday evening, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens of others.
In the beheading video, the two men tell their kidnappers that they drove truckloads of food and supplies to an American base in the central Iraqi town of Ramadi.
The men said they lived in the Sadr City section of Baghdad and worked for a Lebanese company. Although they admitted staying on a U.S. base for two weeks, the two said they were lured into the $150-a-month job not knowing they would be working for Americans.
The men stood -- blindfolded with hands bound behind their backs -- in front of an Arabic banner bearing the name "al Qaeda in Iraq," a group linked to al-Zarqawi that has been responsible for other beheadings and violence.
The last section of the 10-minute video shows the men beheaded by several hooded men as the victims lie on a sidewalk and onlookers cheer "Allah akbar" -- Arabic for "God is great."
Arabic text edited into the video said the men were killed because "they worked for the infidels."
Before their deaths, each man made a statement warning other Iraqis about working for the United States.
"You ruin your life and you lose and you get killed," one man said.
At the prompting of their captors, the men several times repeated in Arabic, "Ramadi is the city of the mujahedeen."
It's unclear from the video where the beheadings were carried out.
Wedding party attacked
The attack on the wedding party was carried out in the town of Youssifiya by a suicide bomber driving an ambulance, authorities said.
At least 38 people were taken to Baghdad hospitals for treatment, authorities said. The wedding was Shiite; the population of Youssifiya is mostly Sunni.
The blast was the latest in a string of attacks Friday, including a car bombing near a Shiite mosque in the Iraqi capital that killed at least 14 worshippers and wounded 42 others, Iraqi police said.
The worshippers had gathered outside the Shouhada al-Taf mosque after morning prayers.
Friday was Eid al-Adha, or Feast of Sacrifice, marking the end of Muslims' pilgrimage, or Hajj, to Mecca.
Also Friday, a U.S. soldier was killed and another wounded while raiding a bomb-making cell north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. His death brought to 1,371 the number of U.S. troops who have died in the Iraq war.
The latest attacks came a day after a top Iraqi police official said Thursday that intelligence sources estimate 150 car bombs and 250 suicide attackers are prepared to strike as the January 30 elections near.
Other developments
Eight Chinese hostages held by a group calling itself the "Islamic Resistance Movement" in Iraq have been freed, an official from the Chinese Embassy said Saturday. (Full story)
The commander of three British troops accused of mistreating Iraqi detainees testified Friday that he had ordered his troops to crack down on looters. (Full story)
Five Danish soldiers have been charged with abusing Iraqi prisoners during interrogations in southern Iraq, a Danish government spokesman said. The soldiers allegedly forced Iraqi prisoners to maintain painful positions at Danish military headquarters near Basra, the spokesman said.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/01/22/iraq.main/index.html
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). And once they've voted, the folks they elect are going to assume positions of significant power in their country.