Baghdad curfew result of Sunni insurgent suicide bomb threat against green zone

The first attack against the green zone came in 2004, killing at least 20 and injuring 60 more. All of the dead were civilians.

BAGHDAD, Sept. 29 — American forces detained an Iraqi working for one of Iraq’s most prominent Sunni Arab political leaders on Friday on suspicion that the man was helping to plan a multiple-car suicide bombing inside the Green Zone, the military said.

The government declined to give a reason for the curfew and did not say whether it was linked to the detention. Authorities had never before banned walking in Baghdad, and the order may indicate fears that Sunni radicals might respond violently.

The military did not identify the man it detained, but said he had been at a compound near the house of Adnan al-Dulaimi, leader of the Iraqi Consensus Front, the largest bloc of Sunni parties in Iraq, which holds about a sixth of the seats in Parliament.

Mr. Dulaimi confirmed that one of his guards was taken Friday, but he said he did not know the reason.

“Credible intelligence indicates that the individual and seven members of his cell were in the final stages of launching a series of vehicle-borne improvised device attacks inside the international zone, possibly involving suicide vests,” a military spokesman said.

Mr. Dulaimi identified the man as Khodar Farhan Ghargan. He said the raid of his compound was the third by American troops. He denied Iraqi television reports that troops had also found bomb-making equipment.

“They told me that they wanted some information about one of my guys,” Mr. Dulaimi said. “They searched all the bedrooms of the guards. They found nothing.”

Read the rest at the NY Times

Related Link:
The Green Zone at Wikipedia