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New Iraqi operation aims to protect voters
security forces have started a nationwide operation to protect more than 500 voter registration centers for a planned constitutional referendum and general election, the Interior Minister said Thursday. Bayan Jabr said the operation began on Aug. 1 and will go on for a month. He acknowledged that there are problems in the tense western province of Anbar, where Sunni Muslim insurgents are active and where at least 21 U.S. Marines were killed this week. As of Wednesday, 544 registration centers opened throughout the country where 16 million voters can register. A referendum on the new constitution, which is still being drafted, is scheduled for Oct. 15, while general elections are supposed to take place Dec. 15 ¡ª assuming the charter wins approval. "All of the southern provinces are safe and turnout on registration has been good in the (predominantly Sunni Arab areas of) Mosul, Salaheddin and Baqouba," he said. "There are some problems in Anbar, especially in Ramadi and some other districts." Jabr did not give any further details on the operation. Insurgent attacks against elections workers are not uncommon. The latest attack came on July 17, when a car bomber triggered an explosion outside the offices of Iraq's electoral commission, killing five employees of Iraq's electoral commission and one policeman. Some 14.2 million Iraqis were eligible to vote in the landmark elections in January for a 275-member parliament and a local parliament in the Kurdish north. More than eight million people, most of them Shiite Muslims and Kurds, took part.
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