Suicide bomb explodes in southern Iraqi city of Basra

[Team Infidel]

BASRA, Iraq - (AP) A suicide car bomb exploded on Sunday
outside an apartment building used by the Badr Brigade, a Shiite militia linked to one of the main parties in the Iraqi government, killing at least one person and wounding three, police said.
The blast near the three-story building at about 7:30 a.m., and the survivors included former Basra Gov. Hassan al-Rashid, a senior local brigade leader, said police Capt. Mushtak Kadim.
The Badr Brigade is the military wing of the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the largest Shiite party in the government and led by Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim.
It was not known who planned the attack in Basra, a mostly Shiite city in southern Iraq where the majority of British forces in this country are based.
But fighting has occurred in the past between the Badr Brigade and other Shiite militias and between the brigade and Sunni-led insurgent groups in Basra, Iraq's second largest city.

 

[phoenix80]

Iraq Announces Curfew, Weapons Ban, Other Security Measures Before Constitutional Referendum

ABC News

BAGHDAD, Iraq Oct 9, 2005 — Iraq announced a curfew, weapons ban, border closings and other security measures Saturday to clamp down ahead of next weekend's key constitutional referendum and prevent insurgent attacks. Sunni Arabs geared up their campaign to defeat the measure at the polls.

Two U.S. soldiers were killed in fighting in western Iraq, bringing to eight the number of American casualties in a series of offensives the military has launched to put down militants before the Oct. 15 vote.

In Baghdad, a suicide attacker detonated a car full of explosives at two police vehicles forming a checkpoint, killing at least five policemen and wounding 20 people, including six civilians.

It was the sort of attack Iraqi security forces are hoping to avert with a ban on using vehicles on voting day a step taken during parliamentary elections in January. Sunni-led insurgents have vowed to wreck the referendum with a wave of attacks.

"We will protect those who say yes and those who say no," Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said in Baghdad. "We have countermeasures against all terrorist actions, and you will see tens of thousands of Iraqi security forces deployed in Baghdad and the provinces."

On Thursday two days ahead of the vote a nationwide nighttime curfew will begin and nobody will be able to carry weapons in public, even if they are licensed, Jabr said. On Friday evening, police will bar travel between provinces. International borders, airports and ports also will be closed, but Jabr did not say when that step would begin.

He acknowledged problems with security in Iraq's western province of Anbar, the heartland of the insurgency. In the provincial capital of Ramadi, only 1,000 of the city's 6,500-member police force were willing to come to work, Jabr said. He said help from powerful local tribes was needed to protect polling stations and the Iraqi military would have to be responsible for security.

The referendum has divided Iraqis, with leaders of the Shiite Muslim majority and Kurds supporting the constitution and Sunni Arabs opposing it, saying it will fragment Iraq. Sunnis can defeat the charter if they garner a two-thirds "no" vote in any three of Iraq's 18 provinces.

excerpted...

read more at

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1197145