Iraq to close borders to thwart attacks

Iraq will seal its borders next week to prevent Shi'ite pilgrims flooding into the country, the government said yesterday, in the latest emergency measure intended to thwart insurgent violence.

The borders will be closed between Thursday and February 22, in a move a government spokesman said was designed to coincide with the climax of Ashura, a major Shi'ite religious ceremony.

Insurgents kept up pressure on Iraqi security forces, killing at least 10 police in a fierce and protracted gunbattle near the town of Salman Pak, southeast of Baghdad, police sources said. Several people had been arrested, including three Iranians and two suspected insurgents from Saudi Arabia.

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.

Mr 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.

Elsewhere in Iraq, at least eight Iraqi civilians died in militant attacks yesterday, including three in a car bomb in central Baghdad which a US army spokesman said might have been aimed at an American convoy that passed by shortly before.

He said there were no US casualties but the explosion scattered tangled metal and wreckage across Tahrir Square, a major intersection lined with stalls and near large hotels.