IRAQ'S Shi'ite interior minister accused critics yesterday of exaggerating reports of torture at a lock-up seized by US troops last weekend.

Iraq’s Shiite interior minister today accused critics of exaggerating reports of torture at a lockup seized by US troops, saying inmates included Shiites and Sunnis, and only a handful showed signs of abuse.

The Iraqi prime minister today sealed the northern border crossing into Syria and imposed a dusk to dawn curfew in the region around the Rabiaa frontier post.

Two people have been detained in connection with the kidnapping of two Algerian diplomats last week, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said today.

THE Iraqi government said yesterday a security cordon of 40,000 Iraqi soldiers and police will ring Baghdad starting next week in what it dubbed Operation Lightning.

The government announced today that a security cordon of 40,000 Iraqi soldiers and police will ring Baghdad starting next week to try to halt a spree of insurgent violence that has killed more than 620 people this month.