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BAGHDAD (AP): Iraq announced a curfew, weapons ban, border closings and other security measures to clamp down ahead of next weekend's key constitutional referendum and prevent insurgent attacks. Sunni Arabs geared up their campaign to defeat the measure at the polls.
Two U.S. soldiers were killed Saturday in fighting in western Iraq, bringing to eight the number of American casualties in a series of offensives the military has launched to put down militants before the Oct. 15 vote.
In Baghdad, a suicide attacker detonated a car full of explosives at two police vehicles forming a checkpoint, killing at least five policemen and wounding 20 people, including six civilians.
It was the sort of attack Iraqi security forces are hoping to avert with a ban on using vehicles on voting day - a step taken during parliamentary elections in January. Sunni-led insurgents have vowed to wreck the referendum with a wave of attacks.
"We will protect those who say yes and those who say no," Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said in Baghdad. "We have counter-measures against all terrorist actions, and you will see tens of thousands of Iraqi security forces deployed in Baghdad and the provinces."
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