Security measures in place for pending Iraqi election as attacks mount News
Security measures in place for pending Iraqi election as attacks mount

[JURIST] Extra security measures [JURIST report] running through Sunday's election came into force in Iraq Friday [Iraqi Security Minister briefing] on a day when attacks on voting stations around Iraq resulted in 11 deaths. Driving of automobiles is now banned between 7 pm and 6 am, and all pedestrians are being kept away from polling centers. Saturday will see the closing of the Baghdad airport as well as the six borders Iraq shares with neighboring countries. Extra US soldiers have been deployed to reinforce the Iraqi-Syrian border in an attempt to discourage entrance of would-be troublemakers. On election day itself polling centers will be heavily guarded on election day by an outer ring of nearly 100,000 Iraqi police and an inner ring consisting of US and Iraqi military forces. Iraq's military chief of staff, General Babakir Zebari, has said that he would have preferred a delay in the election, but has expressed confidence in his soldiers' election day performance. Aljazeera has more.