Iraq Update

Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Election News

• Human Rights Watch released a report detailing alleged torture and other abuses by Iraqi security forces.
  
• Arab League spokesman Hossam Zaki told Reuters on January 25 that a Sunni Arab boycott of the election "will affect the credibility of the outcome".
  
• The authorities on January 22 announced more details of the tight security measures for election day, including a night-time curfew across much of Iraq and a three-day holiday, plus restrictions on travel - Baghdad airport will be closed, and the use of cars will be limited.

Current security developments

• At least one policeman died in Baaqubah, northeast of Baghdad, when militants attacked the offices of three political parties on January 26. Two policemen were killed the previous day in an attack on a polling station in the town.
  
• Video footage was released showing three Iraqis saying they had been working for the national electoral commission in the northern city of Mosul.
  
• The Iraq government announced the arrest of two associates of militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi: Sami Mohammed Ali Said al-Jaaf (aka Abu Omar al-Kurdi) and Hassan Hamad Abdullah Muhsen al-Duleimi.
  
• At least 10 people were injured in a suicide car bomb attack at a checkpoint near the offices of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's party early on January 24.
  Islamic militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi issued a new message on the internet on January 23 saying the election was a plot to put the Shia in power in Iraq.