Forces ramp up security ahead of withdrawal

June 29, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi security forces bolstered checkpoints and banned motorcycles from the streets of Baghdad as they prepared Sunday for more violence before this week’s withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from the capital and other cities and towns.

Despite the increased checks, a roadside bomb targeting a U.S. convoy in eastern Baghdad wounded six bystanders. It was unclear if anyone in the convoy was injured, police said.

A car bomb also exploded in the parking lot of a police academy in western Baghdad, killing one police officer and wounding six others, police said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Iraq’s main Sunni political bloc joined Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in describing the Tuesday deadline for the U.S. withdrawal from urban areas as a turning point for the country.

Al-Maliki’s government has declared Tuesday National Sovereignty Day and decreed a public holiday.

“June 30 is an important turning point on the civilian, security and political levels, and this is the feeling shared by all Iraqis,” Salim al-Jubouri, spokesman for the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front, said in a statement.

He also said “terrorist elements” would try to disrupt the withdrawal but added that Iraqi forces were capable of ensuring security. Although considerable progress has been made at reconciling Sunnis and Shiites, there is still a divide between the two Islamic sects that nearly brought the country to the brink of civil war in 2006-07.

In Sunday’s attacks, insurgents were apparently taking advantage of a major sandstorm that blanketed the capital and reduced visibility to just a few yards in some places.