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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq will seal its borders
next week to prevent Shi'ite pilgrims flooding into
the
country, the government says, in the latest
emergency measure intended to thwart insurgent
violence.
The borders will be closed between February 17 and
February 22, in a move a government
spokesman said on Thursday was designed to coincide
with the climax of Ashura, a major Shi'ite
religious ceremony.
Millions of Shi'ites travel from across the region
to holy sites in Iraq for Ashura, during which many
parade and beat themselves in homage to the
martyrdom of Imam Hussein in 680 AD.
Suicide bombers attacked pilgrims last year in
Baghdad and Kerbala, killing at least 170 people.
"During these dates people will flood to Iraq from
neighbouring countries because of Ashura, which
will make it difficult to ensure the safety of
Iraqis and the visitors," government spokesman Thaer
al-Naqib told Reuters.
Naqib said foreign pilgrims should make sure they
arrived before the borders closed.
The government, battling a raging insurgency, has
adopted special laws that allow it to declare
curfews, close borders and detain suspects without
normal legal process.
Drivers trying to enter Iraq from Syria, Iran and
Jordan say that many border crossings are already
shut, meaning foreign Shi'ites will struggle to make
the holy journey this year.
The move could contribute to tensions with Iran,
from where hundreds of thousands of pilgrims enter
Iraq each year.
IRAQI POLICE KILLED
At least 10 Iraqi policemen were killed in a gun
battle with insurgents south of Baghdad on Thursday,
police sources said.
The battle, near the town of Salman Pak, about 65 km
(40 miles) southeast of Baghdad, continued
for several hours.
The fighting was so fierce that police
reinforcements were unable to reach many of the
wounded or
recover the dead left lying in the road.
Elsewhere in Iraq, at least eight Iraqi civilians
died in militant attacks on Thursday, including
three in
a car bomb in central Baghdad which a U.S. army
spokesman said might have been aimed at an
American convoy that passed by shortly before.
He said there were no U.S. casualties but the
explosion scattered tangled metal and wreckage
across Tahrir Square, a major intersection lined
with stalls and near large hotels.
South of the capital, police discovered the bodies
of 20 drivers apparently killed by gunmen who
ambushed them on the way to the southern city of Kut,
a government source said. The attack is
believed to have taken place on Wednesday.
Scores of Iraqis have been killed since the
country's historic election on January 30, which is
expected to hand power to a coalition of Shi'ite
Islamist groups.
Iraq's Electoral Commission is making final checks
on some 300 ballot boxes over the next two to
three days and will release a final vote tally soon.
Partial results show the alliance of mainly Shi'ite
Islamist parties, formed with Sistani's blessing, is
well in the lead, as expected. A coalition of
Kurdish parties is in second place and a bloc led by
Interim
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is third.
The Shi'ite alliance says it will demand the post of
Iraqi prime minister in the next government. The
Kurds want their candidate, Jalal Talabani, to be
president.
Much horse trading is already taking place behind
the scenes. Allawi traveled to Arbil in Kurdistan to
meet Massoud Barzani, head of the Kurdish Democratic
Party and Talabani's partner. He later told
reporters that a partnership might be on the cards.
"We have been allies for a long time in our struggle
against the regime and the issue of a coalition is
possible," Allawi said, but stressed the process
should be inclusive.
"We agreed that all parties should take part in the
political process and not participating doesn't mean
that anyone should be isolated," he said.
Many in the Sunni Arab minority, which dominated the
country under Saddam Hussein, stayed away
from the polls, either because of violence or calls
for a boycott from Sunni leaders.
Results are not yet in from several mainly Sunni
provinces. But those from Salahadin, a mainly Sunni
province that includes Saddam's hometown of Tikrit,
indicate few Sunnis voted.
Reuters
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