He said a similar agency has already been established to protect embassies and diplomatic missions, which will eventually include the US Embassy.
The National Police also will work with the Interior Ministry to create a protection force for the Green Zone, the heavily fortified area in central Baghdad that includes the US Embassy and the Iraqi government headquarters, Awadi said.
The Green Zone is currently guarded by the US military and considered the safest area in Baghdad despite the danger of security breaches and rocket and mortar attacks.
But while the security pact gives Iraq's government full responsibility for the Green Zone, the Iraqis can ask for help from the US military, which is expected to continue guarding the area in the short term.
Awadi said the ancient ruins that will fall under the new protection will include Babylon, one of the world's first cities, where Nebuchadnezzar II is believed to have built one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the Hanging Gardens.
Also included will be Ctesiphon, capital of the pre-Islamic Persian empire, on the Tigris river southeast of Baghdad, he said. During the 1991 Gulf War, shock waves from bombing triggered cracks at the ruins, which contain the world's widest single-span arch of unreinforced brickwork.
The National Police chief also outlined protection plans for other key facilities, including the Central Bank in Baghdad, which will be guarded by about 500 to 600 officers.
A National Police brigade will be stationed in each of Iraq's 15 provinces that are outside the northern semiautonomous Kurdish region, Awadi said.
The National Police force is one of the three pillars of the Iraqi security forces, along with the local police and the army. The goal is to have local police ready to take over responsibility for their areas from the National Police in 2010, Awadi said.
