Iraqi forces intensifies security measures across Baghdad a day after a series of deadly attacks including two truck bombings that killed 97 people and wounded 585 others, a well-informed police source said on Thursday.
"We have (received) orders to take new security measures, which included an increased presence of security members on Baghdad streets and in neighborhoods and tougher searches at checkpoints," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The Iraqi security forces fanned out on high alert following an urgent meeting between Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and commanders of Iraqi security forces late Wednesday, the source said.
"The command of Baghdad operations has ordered detention of senior officers in charge of the Salhiyah and Bab al-Muadham areas for a government probe over security failure that led to Wednesday's deadly truck bombings," the source said, referring to the central Baghdad areas housing two ministries targeted by two massive truck bombs Wednesday.
The source, however, did not disclose how many senior officers were on the list of detention.
Despite the tightened security measures, a bicycle bomb went off on Thursday morning at the commercial area of Hafiz al-Qazi at the al-Rasheed street in central Baghdad, killing two people and wounding eight others.
In recent months, violence has dropped dramatically across the country, though insurgents are still capable of launching deadly attacks in Baghdad and some northern Iraqi cities.
(Xinhua News Agency August 20, 2009)
