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Kirkuk
under
curfew
as
poll
centres
hit
The
interim
Iraqi
authorities
have
announced
a
curfew
in
the
northern city
of
Kirkuk
as
10 polling
centres
in
areas
north
of
Baghdad
came
under
overnight
attack.
Kirkuk
on
Tuesday
was
set
to
impose the
curfew
and
tough
security
in
a
bid
to
ward
off attacks
during
the
country's
election
scheduled
for
30
January. From
Tuesday,
Kirkuk
authorities
ordered
an
8pm
to
5am
curfew
which
will
be
extended
by
two
hours
on
the
eve
of
the
election,
in
which
Iraqis
will
vote
for
a
national
assembly
to
draw
up
a
new
constitution. A
senior
police
official
said
his
forces
were
ready
to
give
their
lives
for
Sunday's
vote,
while
the
governor
of
Kirkuk
province
has
been
holding
daily
meetings
with
community
leaders
to
secure
their
help
to
counter
fighters
opposed
to
the
presence
of
foreign
troops
in
Iraq. "We
have
been
preparing
for
three
months
and
we
will
sacrifice
our
lives
for
the
security
of
the
vote,"
said
Major
Yadgar
Abd
Allah, who
is
coordinating
security
for
the
election. Polling
centres
attacked Elsewhere
10
polling
centres north
of
Baghdad
were
attacked
overnight, police
reported.
A
further
voting
station
was
hit
in
the
south
of
the
country.
Centres
were
attacked
with In
Tuz
Khurmatu,
north
of
Tikrit,
fighters
dynamited
a
voting
station,
said
Captain
Ahmad
Bayan
al-Din. Six
mortar
rounds
hammered
a
centre
in
the
refinery
town
of
Baiji
and
in
Samarra
four
rockets
hit
a
polling
station,
police
said.
South
of
that
city,
fighters
also
launched
rocket
and
mortar
attacks
on
voting
offices
in
Ishaki
and
Yathrib. Six
mortar
shells
also
shook
a
voting
centre
near
al-Dujail,
police
said. Al-Zarqawi
claim The
attacks
across
Salah
al-Din
province,
a
main
area
of
the
violence,
caused
severe
damage
to
the
stations,
most
of
them
located
in
schools,
police
said. The
coordinated
strikes
were
claimed
in
pamphlets
distributed
in
Tikrit
and
Samarra
by
self-declared al-Qaida
ally
Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi's
organisation,
al-Qaida
in
the
Land
of
the
Two
Rivers. "With
the
help
of
God,
we
have
attacked
the
dens
of
the
apostates
who
are
the
pride
of
the
new
democracy,"
the
text
read. "These
attacks
are
a
warning
to
all
people:
They
will
be
targeted." Meanwhile,
Polish
troops
in
central
Iraq
reported
a
polling
station
in
Diwaniya
had
been
sprayed
with
gunfire
on Monday
night.
There
were
no
casualties
in
the
attack.
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