Iraqi authorities imposed an indefinite ban on all vehicles in the Baghdad area Saturday in advance of a major Shiite religious ceremony next week, government television announced. It was the second vehicle ban in Baghdad this month in connection with Shiite services, according to AP. Iraqi television reported the ban hours after a car bomb killed seven people and wounded dozens of others near Baghdad's most important Shiite shrine. Extremists have staged attacks in the past during Shiite festivals, which have drawn huge crowds since the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime. Iraqi state television quoted military spokesman Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Mousawi as saying the ban would apply to all vehicles, motorcycles and bicycles as of 6 p.m. (1400 gmt) Saturday. Vehicles were banned in Baghdad from Aug. 8 through the morning of Aug. 11 during Shiite ceremonies honoring another Shiite saint, Imam Musa Kadhim, who is buried in the capital. The noontime attack in the Kazimiyah district occurred when a bomb hidden in a parked car exploded in busy Oruba Square about 500 meters (yards) from Imam Kadhim's tomb. A medic at the local hospital said seven people were killed in the explosion and 30 others were wounded, including two children. The U.S. command in Baghdad announced the grisly discovery of an execution site in the Arab Jabour area, just south of the capital, in which al-Qaida in Iraq is known to operate.
