IRAQ: Iraq's US-backed government said yesterday it was extending emergency powers equivalent to martial law for a further 30 days to try to safeguard elections scheduled for January 30th which are increasingly under threat from attacks by insurgents.
The state of emergency, first imposed in November ahead of a major US assault on the rebel stronghold of Falluja, would be extended into February, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's government said in a statement.
Emergency powers allow the government to impose curfews, close borders and airports and detain suspects without following normal legal procedures. The emergency applies to all regions of Iraq except the Kurdish north, which has been relatively stable.
"Since terrorist gangs continue their activities to prevent the creation of a broad representative government and try to impede peaceful political participation of all Iraqis, we have decided to extend the state of emergency in all areas of Iraq except the region of Kurdistan for 30 days," Mr Allawi said.
Iraq's government says the elections will be Iraq's first democratic polls in decades. But violence in Sunni Arab areas has impeded election preparations there and many Sunni political groups are boycotting the elections, saying unrest and intimidation will prevent Sunni Arabs from voting.
The country's 60 per cent Shia majority, long oppressed during the rule of Saddam Hussein, is expected to cement its new-found political dominance in the elections. But Sunni Arab leaders say the insurgency - which is strongest in Sunni areas - will only strengthen if Sunnis feel disenfranchised.
Meanwhile the Paris newspaper Libération announced yesterday that one of its journalists, Florence Aubenas, had not been seen since she left a Baghdad hotel with her interpreter early on Wednesday.
Suicide bombers killed 21 people in attacks on an Iraqi police academy in the town of Hilla, south of Baghdad on Wednesday, and at a checkpoint in Baquba, northeast of the capital.
The attacks were the latest by insurgents who have killed more than 90 people, mostly policemen, this week alone.
They came a day after gunmen assassinated Baghdad's provincial governor, Mr Ali al-Haidri, and a suicide truck bomber killed 11 people outside a police commando headquarters.