Iraq sets steps for a safe referendum

BAGHDAD -- Iraq, seeking to prevent insurgent attacks, announced a curfew, a weapons ban, border closings, and other security measures yesterday in advance of the constitutional referendum next weekend.

Sunni Arabs, meanwhile, geared up their national electoral campaign to defeat the measure at the polls.

In western Iraq, two US soldiers were killed in fighting, bringing to eight the number of American casualties in a series of offensives the military has launched to put down militants before the vote on Oct. 15.

In Baghdad, a suicide attacker detonated a car full of explosives next to two police vehicles forming a checkpoint, killing at least five police officers and wounding 20 people, including six civilians.

It was the sort of attack Iraqi forces are hoping to avert by banning vehicles on voting day. Insurgents have vowed to wreck the vote with a wave of attacks.

''We will protect those who say 'yes' and those who say 'no,' " Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said.

''We have countermeasures against all terrorist actions," he said in Baghdad, ''and you will see tens of thousands of Iraqi security forces in Baghdad and provinces."

On Thursday, two days before the vote, a nationwide nighttime curfew will begin and nobody will be able to carry weapons in public, even if they have licenses, Jabr said. On Friday evening, police will bar travel between provinces. International borders, airports, and ports also will be closed.

Leaders of the Shi'ite majority and the Kurds are supporting the constitution, and the Sunni Arabs generally oppose it.