Iraqi authorities on Friday said they were sealing off three provinces to prevent possible rebel attacks when final general election results are announced later in the day, Iraqiya state television reported.
The three provinces concerned — Diyala, Salaheddin and Anbar — are heavily populated by the country’s Sunni Arab minority whose leaders have complained of fraud in the December 15 elections.
”The provinces will be sealed off for 48 hours starting Friday morning to prevent acts of terrorism at the time of the announcement of the election results,” the television station said.
There were no immediate details on the measures taken, but they likely included the closing off of roads and increased security checks in towns.
Police in the western restive city of Fallujah have also announced the sealing off of their Sunni-majority town for three days, starting on Thursday.
In Baghdad itself, security measures were also being tightened with about 13 000 Iraqi security forces involved in ”Operation National Unity”, a long-term plan for improving public safety.
The US military has also warned of a possible spike in violence as results are announced.
”We do believe, based on what’s happened in the past, that on about the time the election results are released there will be another surge in violence,” United States Major-General Rick Lynch told reporters on Thursday.
”They want to derail the democratic process and discredit the Iraqi government and what we saw in the first week in January is that the terrorists and foreign fighters, Zarqawi specifically, have an ability to surge and conduct violent operations,” he said, speaking of recent large-scale bombings attributed to al-Qaeda in Iraq, the group controlled by Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
The independent electoral commission was expected to release final, uncertified election results on Friday afternoon after a long delay resulting from investigations into allegations of fraud.
The commission on Monday annulled less than one percent of the ballots because of fraud.
On Thursday, a panel of foreign experts issued its own report into the elections saying that while they had been marked by some fraud, this need not call into question overall results.
The elections were to elect the first full four-year-term Parliament since Saddam Hussein was overthrown in 2003.
Early results suggested that the religious Shi’ite alliance and their Kurdish allies will remain in power, though many leaders have urged the formation of a government of national unity, a call echoed on Thursday by the panel of foreign experts.
”There is an urgent need, at this period in the history of Iraq, for a formation of a government of true national unity,” the six-man panel said in its findings.
Similar appeals have also been made by British and US officials, who are anxious to see minority Sunni Arabs included in a broad-based government in order to undermine their community’s support for the insurgency.
Washington is looking to the formation of a stable government and an effective security force here as part of its exit strategy for the eventual withdrawal of the 160 000 US troops in Iraq. – AFP
