Iraqi president prepares to visit Iran after curfew lifted

A curfew that had banned vehicles from Baghdad’s streets and closed its international airport to all civilian flights for three days was lifted today, clearing the way for Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to travel to Iran for an official visit.

Talabani had been scheduled to visit neighbouring Iran on Saturday, but he had to postpone his trip because of the security clampdown imposed across Baghdad after Sunni-Arab insurgents killed more than 200 people in the Shiite slum of Sadr City on Thursday in the deadliest attack by militants since the war began in March 2003.