BAGHDAD — U.S. and Iraqi troops have imposed a strict security crackdown in Samarra, a stronghold of the Sunni insurgency, prompting residents to complain that basic necessities such as drinking water have not reached the city for seven days.
The strictures follow recent incidents in which militants linked to the group Al Qaeda in Iraq flew black flags in the city's streets and a suicide car bomber rammed into police headquarters, killing 12 officers, including Chief Col. Jaleel Nahi Hassoun, and disabling Samarra's water system.
"Life in the city is unbearable," said Mustafa Abdul-Latee, a 38-year-old city worker and father of four.
"I get paid on a daily basis, so being unable to work is causing me a big problem.... I am forced to buy in debt from all the shops since I don't have money."
The governor of Salahuddin province, who has political authority over the city, said U.S. and Iraqi troops had reacted too strongly, imposing a vehicle ban against his will in the city of 200,000.
The measures have been taken "probably because they received intelligence information about terrorist threats," said Gov. Hamad Hmood.
But he objected to the road closures, saying that "the curfew and the indiscriminate detentions have only exacerbated the situation in the city."
In a statement, U.S. and Iraqi government forces said they had "enforced a 24-hour curfew in order to protect the city of Samarra from the cowardly attacks which are being perpetrated by terrorists."
"Only pedestrians will be allowed, there will not be any vehicular traffic in the city. This curfew is being enforced in order to prevent terrorists from traveling freely around the city."
Dr. Mustafa Abdul Kareem, head of the pediatrics ward at a Samarra hospital, said a lack of fuel for generators had led to equipment failures that resulted in the deaths of two newborns in an incubator. Two other children required transport to Tikrit or Kirkuk, but he said their ambulance was blocked by U.S. and Iraqi troops.
Ambulances have become favored vehicles of car bombers and insurgents. In February, a suicide bomber in a stolen ambulance killed 14 people in Ramadi.
In 2003, an ambulance packed with explosives blew up the International Committee of the Red Cross office in Baghdad, killing 12 people.
Since then, U.S. and Iraqi security forces frequently stop and search ambulances, even during emergencies.
