Curfew on Baghdad and 10 provinces for Ashura: report

[maddezmom]

Source: AFP

BAGHDAD (AFP) - A curfew will be slapped on Baghdad and 10 Iraqi provinces on Thursday for the three-day Shiite Muslim festival of Ashura, state television reported on Wednesday.

All traffic will be banned from Thursday night in the southern provinces of Babylon, Basra, Diwaniya, Karbala, Missan, Muthanna, Najaf, Thi-Qar and Wassit, the channel quoted an interior minister statement as saying.

The curfew will also apply to Baghdad and Diyala province in the centre-north of the country where many Shiites live.

In the capital, bridges across the River Tigris will also be closed to traffic, the statement quoted interior ministry spokesman General Abdel Karim Khalaf as saying.

Police have said tens of thousands of Iraqi troops and police would flood the shrine cities of Karbala and Najaf for Ashura, which marks Shiite Islam's holiest days.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080116/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestreligionshiiteashura_080116142335

[wtmusic]

1. The surge is working

Everyone is either dead or under house arrest, and violence is down! :crazy:

[rodeodance]

2. walls, barb wire, gates, check points, curfues. yup

[bemildred]

3. Trying to stop the car-bombs.

Expect an up-tick in suicide bombers.

[Juan_de_la_Dem]

4. Winning Hearts and Minds