Baghdad and two other Iraqi provinces will be under curfew on Sunday to prevent any outbreak of violence on the day of the verdict in Saddam Hussein's first trial, a top Iraqi official said on Saturday.
"The government of Iraq will impose curfew on Baghdad, Diyala and Salaheddin provinces," Iraq's National Security Advisor Muwaffaq al-Rubaie told reporters.
Aside from the curfew, more "security measures are under consideration," he said without offering details.
Iraq has already cancelled all military leave and put its armed forces on alert as a precaution to prevent any violence before or after Sunday's ruling by the Iraqi Hugh Tribunal in Saddam's trial for crimes against humanity.
Saddam and seven of his former regime officials are charged with ordering the killing of 148 Shiites in the early 1980s in the village of Dujail, where the deposed president escaped an assassination bid in 1982.
It is feared that a verdict in the trial, in which Saddam faces a possible death penalty, could trigger widespread violence in already war-torn Iraq between remaining supporters of the former president and his many enemies.