Security crackdown as Iraq prepares to vote

THE Iraqi Government announced yesterday it will close all borders, extend curfew hours and ban travel across provincial borders as part of stringent security measures to protect voters during this week’s parliamentary elections.

Elsewhere, concern mounted over the fate of four peace activists as a deadline set by kidnappers threatening to kill them passed on Saturday. Iraq’s interior ministry said it had no information about the hostages and emissaries from Canada and Britain showed no signs of having established contact with the kidnappers.

The previously unknown Swords of Righteousness Brigade seized the activists two weeks ago. The four are Norman Kember, 74, of London; Tom Fox, 54, of Virginia; and Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32.