Curfew Declared in Baghdad as Violence Surges
By VOA News
23 June 2006
An Iraqi soldier frisks a civilian as his colleague secures an area in central Baghdad, 23 June 2006
The Iraqi government has imposed a curfew in Baghdad as violence surged in the capital city and across the country.
The curfew was declared Friday after clashes involving insurgents, Shi＇ite militia and U.S. and Iraqi security forces near the heavily-fortified Green Zone in Baghdad. Several people were reported killed in the clashes.
Elsewhere, two bombings killed at least 15 people and wounded 30 others. In the southern city of Basra, a car bomb exploded near a market, killing at least five people. Police had earlier reported 10 deaths in the blast.
A second bomb exploded outside a Sunni mosque in the village of Hibhib, killing at least 12 worshippers. It is the same village where a U.S. air strike killed al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Separately, the U.S. military says coalition troops killed four foreign terrorists and wounded one Iraqi insurgent during a raid Friday near the city of Fallujah, west of the capital.
The U.S. military also says coalition forces detained a senior member of the al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist group in a raid near the restive city of Baquba, north of Baghdad, earlier this week.
U.S. casualties continued to mount, as officials announced that five American troops have died since Wednesday, including two soldiers whose vehicle hit a roadside bomb southeast of Baghdad Friday.
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