Violence in Iraq continues before elections
19/1/2005 15:02
Violence continued on Tuesday in Iraq ahead of the Jan. 30 elections
and the Iraqi government has announced it will close borders during the
elections to ensure security.
A suspected suicide car bomb attacked the
office of a leading Iraqi Shiite party on Tuesday morning in central Baghdad,
killing one person, the Dubai-based al-Arabiyah TV channel reported.
The
blast took place at about 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) in the Jadriyah office of the
Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq ( SCIRI) when a suicide
bomber drove his explosive-laden car toward the office and donated the bomb by a
checkpoint barrier about 60 meters away, the report said.
A spokesman from
the party said one person was killed and two others were wounded. However,
witnesses said they saw two people killed and six wounded.
Iraqi police put
the death toll at five, including one policeman, the channel said.
This was
the second attack on the party's headquarters in less than one month. On Dec.
28, a suicide car bomb killed 13 people outside SCIRI's office, destroying a
house across the street from the party's building, which also houses its
political leader Abdel Aziz Hakim.
That attack was claimed by the group of
Al-Qaida linked Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Also on Tuesday, a US soldier was
killed in a roadside bombing attack near the capital Baghdad.
"A Task Force
Baghdad Soldier was killed when an improvised explosive device was detonated,"
said the US military in a statement.
Meanwhile, it also announced the death
of another soldier in the restive Anbar province west of Iraq, which brought to
three the number of soldiers killed on Monday.
IRAQ TO CLOSE BORDERS FOR
SECURITY
Amid rising violence, the Iraqi government announced Tuesday it will
close international land borders from Jan. 29 until Jan. 31, extend nighttime
curfews and restrict movement inside the country for election security
reasons.
According to a statement from the Independent Electoral Commission,
the land borders will be closed except for Muslim pilgrims returning from the
Hajj in Saudi Arabia and vehicles with official permission.
Iraqis will be
barred from traveling between provinces and their movement will be restricted in
the cities. A nighttime curfew will be imposed during the same period, Farid
Ayar, the spokesman for the commission said.
The statement did not mention
whether Baghdad's International Airport will be closed.
The US military and
Iraqi government say they expect a surge in violence in the coming days by
insurgents bent on disrupting the Jan. 30 elections.
BUSH, ALLAWI CONFER ON
ELECTIONS
President George W. Bush spoke Tuesday with Iraqi interim Prime
Minister Ayad Allawi, the latest conversation between the two leaders on
security and efforts to ensure maximum participation in its Jan. 30
elections.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "We want to make sure
that the Iraqis have the best possible election, that as many people in Iraq who
want to, are able to participate in the election process."
He said,
"Obviously, there are continuing security concerns that we're continuing to work
to address with Iraqi security forces, but we want to see the best election
possible and we'll do everything we can to help the Iraqi people have broad
participation in those elections."
According to Iraqi officials, elections
will also be held in longtime insurgent centers of Fallujah and Ramadi. For
security reasons, the number and location of polling stations will be kept
secret until the last minute.
Meanwhile, organizers said Tuesday a total of
18,104 overseas Iraqis have registered to vote by absentee ballots in the
elections on the first day of a week-long such service for overseas
Iraqis.
The rest of the estimated 1.2 million overseas Iraqis eligible for
the elections will have to register before Sunday.
Xinhua
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