Curfew imposed in Iraqi capital

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The Iraqi government has imposed a partial travel ban in Baghdad and the outskirts of the capital ahead of a major Shia festival next week.

Two-wheelers and hand carts, but not cars, will be banned in Baghdad and its outskirts from 1800 (1400 GMT) on Saturday, an army official said.

The curfew aims to curb insurgent attacks against up to two million Shia pilgrims expected to head to Karbala.

Earlier, a car bomb in northern Baghdad killed at least seven in a Shia area.

There is already a daily curfew in place in Baghdad between 2200 and 0500 (1800 GMT to 0100 GMT).

"An indefinite curfew has been imposed on two-wheelers and hand carts, but not on other vehicles such as cars," Brig Gen Qassim Atta, spokesman for the Iraqi military in Baghdad, told the AFP news agency.

Pilgrims have been the subject of attacks in the past.

'Al-Qaeda-free zone'

Central areas of what has been one of Iraq's most volatile provinces have been completely cleared of fighters belonging to the group known as al-Qaeda in Iraq, according to senior American and Iraqi officers.

The operation in Diyala province, north-east of Baghdad, has had help from former insurgents, they say.

The claim that Diyala is rapidly becoming a more peaceful province after a long period of violence is clearly one to be judged by whether any improvement is sustained, says BBC world affairs correspondent Mike Wooldridge in Baghdad.

But Col David Sutherland, US commander in the province, suggested a key influence would be a network widely known as the 1920s Brigades, after the resistance to the British at that time.

They are mostly Sunni, many of them former insurgents.

"These are people, patriots that have come forward and joined the security process," he told the BBC.

"They are working with my soldiers and they are working with the Iraqi security forces to assist us with information... being the eyes and ears forward, as basically advance scouts."

Col Sutherland say they have captured both Iraqi and foreign al-Qaeda members during the operation in Diyala.