Iraq's election commission has announced that it will close the nation's borders and ban all non-governmental vehicles from the roads for three days beginning January 29, in order to enhance security for national elections.
The announcement Tuesday came as Iraqi and U.S. forces continued to round up suspected insurgents ahead of the vote. Since Monday, the U.S. military says at least 31 people have been detained and five have been killed.
In Baghdad, a suicide bomber killed at least two other people when he blew himself up outside the office of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a leading Shi'ite political party. That party is running on the 228-member United Iraqi Alliance ticket, which is expected to do very well in the January 30 vote.
Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.