Iraqi govt orders daytime curfew as civil war threatens

Iraqi police and soldiers fanned out today to enforce an extraordinary daytime curfew in Baghdad and three provinces in a bid to halt the wave of sectarian violence that has killed about 120 people since the bombing of one of Shiite Islam’s holiest shrines.

Security forces blocked major roads and surrounded Baghdad’s two main Sunni mosques as streets throughout the city of nearly seven million were virtually deserted. The nation stood on the brink of civil war and the American strategy in Iraq faced its gravest test since the 2003 invasion.