Iraq clamps down ahead of constitution vote

IRAQ prepared to seal itself off from the outside world yesterday and clamp down on movement around the country to ward off threats from insurgents bent on wrecking a referendum on a new constitution.

US and Iraqi forces stepped up security across the country and prepared to impose an overnight curfew to try to reduce insurgent attacks aimed at wrecking this weekend's referendum.

One day after Iraqi lawmakers approved a set of last-minute amendments to the constitution without a vote, sealing a compromise designed to win minority Sunni Arab support for the charter, cities including Baghdad were unusually quiet as a four-day national holiday began.

Government offices and schools were closed ahead of Saturday's vote.

The government ordered a 10pm-to-6am curfew yesterday, and Iraq's borders will be closed today and all travel among its provinces stopped.

Working under cover of darkness, US and Iraqi forces raided suspected militant safe houses in cities including Baghdad, and built four-foot-tall concrete barriers topped with concertina wire in front of polling stations such as schools. The walls are designed to protect the areas from bombing by insurgents.

Police went even further in Mosul, a city northwest of Baghdad that has suffered many militant attacks, imposing a ban on Wednesday night on all civilian vehicles. A roadside bomb exploded near a US military convoy there yesterday, killing two Iraqi civilians and wounding one, said police Brig Gen Saeed Ahmed al-Jibouri.

A car bomb also hit an Iraqi police patrol in the northern city of Kirkuk, killing two policemen and wounding two, said police Brig Sarhad Qadir.

In the last 18 days, at least 442 people have been killed as the insurgents try to scare voters away from the polls. Most of the deaths have been caused by suicide car bombs, roadside bombs and drive-by shootings.

The bodies of many other Iraqis who had been kidnapped and killed have been found in isolated areas.

"Our soldiers recognise that they are not here to influence the election, but they are here to allow the Iraqi people the opportunity to vote," said US Lt Col Jeff Edge, as his battalion delivered barriers to a volatile, mostly Sunni area of south-west Baghdad.

During the first three days this week, Iraqi and US forces in the capital, backed by Black Hawk helicopters, reported capturing 75 suspected insurgents, seizing three large weapons caches and rescuing an Iraqi man who had been kidnapped by insurgents.

There are now 156,000 American troops in Iraq, a total that has been rising in recent weeks as the 101st Airborne returns, along with lead elements of the 3rd Corps Support Command. Before that regularly scheduled rotation, the number was about 140,000, the military said.

In another development, thousands of Iraqi detainees who have not been brought to trial were allowed to vote early in the constitutional referendum at US prisons such as the notorious Abu Ghraib detention centre.

It was not known if the voters included Saddam Hussein. The Independent Electoral Commission in Iraq had said the imprisoned former leader would be allowed to vote, but its general director Adel Allami said he did not know.