Officials Place Baghdad under Curfew after Zarqawi's Death

Top Iraqi officials have announced that the Iraqi capital, as well as nearby location of Baquba where Zarqawi is said to have been killed in an US raid yesterday, will be placed under strict vehicle ban, BBC informs.

Officials fear that since it is Friday, a prayer day for Muslim people, thousands of Iraqi citizens who will attend mosques may be in danger of falling victims to deadly attacks organized by insurgents who want to revenge Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's death.

Following a bloody bomb attack, which occurred in Shia-dominated neighborhoods of Baghdad yesterday night, claiming the lives of 15 people as a result of the explosions of two car bombs, an Iraqi defense ministry official stated that "the curfew is a measure to keep people indoors as there could be more bombings like the ones last night, following Zarqawi's death".

In reply to yesterday's achievement of the US allied forces in Iraq, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, currently attending a NATO meeting in Brussels, labeled fears that the death of one of the most wanted terrorists in the world could lead to increased violence, as "utter nonsense": "These things tend to get planned well in advance. You could have an upswing [in violence] but I think linking it to that would surprise me".

According to several Iraqi officials, the US raid in that particular location came as a result of inside Zarqawi's organization information, while the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki stated yesterday that the 25 million dollar bounty placed on Zarqawi will be paid. Yet, he did not disclose the name of the person or persons who tipped off the US allied forces.