Iraqi authorities Thursday decided to lift a daily night curfew in Baghdad starting from Saturday.
According to a government statement, the removal of the curfew is considered as a sign of security improvement in the Iraqi capital, after about six months of Haider al-Abadi's appointment as prime minister, Xinhua news agency reported.
The decision was made after Abadi late Wednesday night visited the Baghdad Operations Command (BOC), which is responsible for the security of the capital, the statement said.
During the visit, Abadi held a meeting with Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir al-Shammari and other senior security officials, and discussed the security situation in Baghdad, the statement said.
The meeting came out with a decision to lift the curfew imposed on the Iraqi capital for years.
The statement also said that Abadi ordered the disarming of some of Baghdad's districts like Kadhmiyah, Adhamiyah, Mansour, Karrada and Saidiyah.
A security official said the disarmament means to impose restrictions, including removing security checkpoints, except at the entrances of the districts.
According to the source, the restrictions would also be imposed on the number of guards and their weapons in the offices of political parties, and on houses of senior officials inside the districts.
