Curfew makes for day of relative peace in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq – A round-the-clock curfew imposed ahead of the verdict against Saddam Hussein kept a relative peace in Iraq’s most dangerous regions on Sunday, but the U.S. military announced two more American deaths and police said 72 people were killed or found dead nationwide by daybreak.

Iraq’s government clamped the open-ended curfew on Baghdad and the restive provinces of Diyala and Salahuddin, closed the city’s international airport, added checkpoints and stepped up police patrols with the U.S. military. All leave for Iraqi soldiers was canceled.

No widespread bloodshed was reported in Baghdad, despite raucous celebrations by Shiites who defied the curfew in the capital to rejoice over the death sentence given to Saddam and angry counter-protests in Sunni regions.

The security crackdown was one of the heaviest since the February bombing of an important Shiite shrine that unleashed rampant violence between Sunnis and Shiites.

As an additional precaution, security forces closed two Sunni Muslim television stations after Saddam was sentenced to hang, saying they violated the curfew and a law that bans airing material that could undermine the country’s stability.

The U.S. military identified the two casualties as a soldier killed in fighting in western Baghdad and a Marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7, who died from non-hostile causes in Anbar province. Both died on Saturday.