The curfew will remain in effect from today through Monday and restrictions on traffic have been imposed to try to deter car bombs. Iraqi security forces took positions at polling sites and traffic checkpoints throughout the country, under the guidance of US troops.
Violence continued earlier yesterday. In Baghdad, bombings killed five US soldiers and four Iraqi police officers. Insurgents also targeted more polling sites across the country.
American troops and insurgents exchanged fire on a major Baghdad thoroughfare. US fighter jets thundered through the skies over Baghdad throughout the morning.
A US Army OH-58 Kiowa helicopter crashed in southwest Baghdad last night, and the fate of the crew was not immediately known, a US military official said. Kiowas usually have a crew of two pilots and this one was not believed to be carrying a large number of passengers. Military officials do not believe the helicopter was hit by hostile fire, Lieutenant Colonel James Hutton said.
The crash happened two days after a CH53E Super Stallion helicopter transporting troops went down in bad weather in the western desert, killing 30 Marines and one sailor.
The arrested Zarqawi associates included Salah Suleiman al-Loheibi, the head of his group's Baghdad operation, , and Ali Hamad Yassin al-Issawi, said Qassim Dawoud, a top security adviser to Iyad Allawi, Iraq's interim prime minister.
Also captured was Zarqawi's military adviser, a 31-year-old Iraqi named Anad Mohammed Qais, 31, said Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh.
Asked whether authorities were close to arresting Zarqawi himself, Saleh replied: "We are getting close to finishing off Zarqawi and we will get rid of him."
The Jordanian-born Zarqawi heads Al Qaeda's affiliate in Iraq, which like other militant groups has threatened to kill anyone who takes part in tomorrow's election. It repeated those warnings in a new Web message yesterday, telling Iraqis they could get hit by shelling or other attacks if they approach polling stations, which it called "the centers of atheism and of vice."
"We have warned you, so don't blame us. You have only yourselves to blame," it said.
