Saturday, January 29 2005 17:55 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Baghdad: Iraq closed its borders today (Jan 29, 2005) and sent tens of thousands of security forces on to the streets to stifle insurgent attacks but could not stop the bloodshed in the final hours before the country's historic election.

Cities were like ghost towns as most of the population waited nervously at home to see if it would be safe enough to take part in the first election since the ousting of dictator Saddam Hussein by US-led forces in April 2003.

A suicide bomber in Khanaqin killed at least five people and six Iraqi police died in rebel attacks while polling stations across the country faced bomb and sniper attacks.

Iraq's land borders and Baghdad airport were closed for three days as authorities sought to counter threats by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who has replaced Saddam as Iraq's most feared man, to wreck the election.

A dusk-to-dawn curfew was slapped on most of the country and travel restrictions enforced.

But in Khanaqin, a town near the border with Iran, a suicide bomber killed four adults and a child near a police security centre, police said.

Our police were shot dead just before midnight on the main road between Baiji and Shorgat, about 200 kilometers north of the capital, police said.

Insurgents attacked a patrol at Salman Pak, just south of Baghdad, killing two police.