Baghdad shuts borders for poll

An Iraqi youth walks past a torn campaign poster of Iraq's Prime Minister Iyad Allawi in central Baghdad. Picture / Reuters

An unprecedented series of security measures will be in force in Iraq during next Sunday's election, it was announced by Baghdad authorities yesterday.

There will be an 8pm-6am curfew in many parts of the country, a three-day holiday, no travel between provinces and a ban on the use of most cars. Baghdad international airport will be closed for two days, and civilians will be forbidden from carrying weapons.

Anyone caught breaking the rules will be detained, a statement said. Even the locations of many polling stations are being kept secret until the last minute, to make it harder for bombers to plan their attacks.

The plan for election day envisages an inner ring of Iraqi police at polling stations, an outer ring of Iraqi troops, and American rapid-reaction forces to be deployed as necessary. Such will be the circumstances in which the country holds its first multi-party election in nearly 50 years. 

The registration deadline for Iraqis voting abroad has been extended by two days after it was discovered that only about one in eight of those eligible had signed up.

By Friday, 131,635 of an estimated million eligible voters in 14 countries had registered to vote in elections that will pick a 275-member parliament which will in turn select a cabinet and oversee the drafting of a constitution.

Yesterday Al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi declared a "bitter war" on Iraq's parliamentary elections in a purported audio tape posted on a website.

The speaker urged Sunni Muslims to fight against the vote, which, he said, was a plot against them by the United States and its Shi'ite Muslim allies.

The tape was posted on the internet on Sunday.

"We have declared a bitter war against the principle of democracy and all those who seek to enact it," said the speaker, who was identified as the Jordanian militant Zarqawi.

"Candidates in elections are seeking to become demi-gods while those who vote for them are infidels. And with God as my witness, I have informed them (of our intentions)."

The voice sounded similar to previous recordings attributed to Zarqawi, the United State's number one enemy in Iraq.

Zarqawi's group, the Al Qaeda Organisation for Holy War in Iraq, has claimed some of the bloodiest attacks on US troops and Iraqi officials. Sunni insurgents have intensified their attacks ahead of the elections in a bid to disrupt it and Sunni clerics have urged postponement until security has improved.

But leaders of the majority Shias, estimated at 60 per cent of Iraq's 26 million people, disagree, believing their numbers will bring them power long denied them by Sunni Arabs.

Underscoring the grave security challenge, the insurgent Ansar al-Sunnah Army announced on a website that it had killed 15 Iraqi National Guardsmen seized from a commercial bus in the Anbar provincial town of Hit.

"After the investigation, they confessed to the crimes they have committed with the crusader forces," the group said.

"God's verdict has been carried out by shooting them ... They should be a lesson to others."

However, eight Chinese taken hostage have been released.

ELECTION LOCKDOWN

There will be an 8pm-6am curfew in many parts of the country, a three-day holiday, no travel between provinces and a ban on using most cars.

Baghdad airport will be closed for two days and civilians will be forbidden from carrying weapons.

The locations of many polling stations are being kept secret until the last minute, to make it harder for bombers to plan their attacks.

Iraqi police and troops will form security rings around stations and American rapid-reaction forces will be used as necessary.

- The Independent and Reuters