Curfew in Baghdad to be lifted today

Meanwhile, Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said he was hopeful that American troops would get more money to train Iraqis to assume a greater role in security as they fight resistance forces.

"These young Iraqis are stepping forward to fight for their country along with us," Wolfowitz told reporters at a US garrison here in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. "It is a wonderful success story that speaks volumes."

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Wolfowitz, who wraps up a three-day tour of Iraq today, spoke while visiting an island on the Tigris River, across from the complex of Saddam's palaces in Tikrit, 120 miles north of Baghdad. The compound serves as the main base for US troops in this Saddam stronghold.

The area is part of the "Sunni Triangle," a hotbed of anti-American sentiment and the scene of increased daily attacks against US troops. The military blames a wide specter of Saddam's supporters, militants, radical fundamentalists and the notorious Fedayeen militia for the attacks.

Separately, officials said Saturday that the coalition-backed police chief of the southern Iraqi city of Amarah was shot to death as he left a mosque after prayers.

Brig. Hamid Hadi Hassan al-Abe was leaving the al-Hussein mosque after Friday prayers when he was gunned down by assailants firing from several locations, police Maj. Kathim Mohsen Hamadi said.

The attackers escaped, Hamadi said. Several hundred men, many of them armed with rifles and pistols, turned out Saturday for the funeral service of al-Abe, who will be buried in the Shiite holy city of Najaf.

Hamadi said al-Abe had a good relationship with British occupation authorities, who are responsible for this city about 75 miles north of Basra.

Iraqis who work with the US-led coalition have been targeted by insurgents, but Amarah is populated primarily by Shiite Muslims, who have been generally more accepting of the occupation because of their suffering under former Sunni-dominated regime.

"We can't accuse anyone right now," Hamadi said. "We face many problems here, mostly tribal problems."

The city council in Baghdad, a city of 5 million people, said the curfew would be lifted at 4 a.m. Sunday. In a separate statement, authorities said they would reopen the 14th of July Bridge later Saturday.

"The curfew can be lifted due to the reduction in the crime rate in the city and the overall improvement in the security situation," the city council statement said. "Despite some highly publicized attacks by terrorists and supporters of the former regime, the overall security situation in Baghdad has improved."

The lifting of the curfew also was timed for the start of Ramadan, which may start Sunday. Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting, begins with the sighting of a new moon and lasts for four weeks.