BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's American overseers said yesterday that they would lift the nighttime curfew on Baghad's 15 million residents beginning tomorrow, to accommodate the country's Muslims during Ramadan and demonstrate that Iraq is returning to normal despite the persistent armed resistance to the occupation.
The announcement coincided with the arrival in Iraq yesterday of Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz, whose itinerary was choreographed to highlight successes that the Bush administration complains have been ignored.
Military commanders have instructed soldiers to keep a low profile during the month of Ramadan out of respect for religious sensibilities. But they also warned that Ramadan could bring an increase in attacks, either from religious militants who associate the period with heralded acts of martyrdom or from guerrilla fighters.
The continuing threat was highlighted yesterday, when three U.S. soldiers were killed and four wounded in two attacks north of Baghdad. In Samarra, two members of the 4th Infantry Division were killed in a mortar attack that also wounded four others. In the city of Mosul, a soldier with the 101st Airborne Division was killed by small-arms fire, according to military officials.
Ramadan begins with the first sighting of the new crescent moon, a moment expected to arrive here yesterday evening or this weekend. Saddam Hussein used to decree the start of the fast and brooked no dispute.
This year, Iraq's Shiite and Sunni Muslims will hear the word from their own clerics, who have hinted they may well differ by a day in their proclamations.
Baghdad has been under curfew since it fell to U.S.-led troops six months ago, leaving the capital's streets deserted after midnight except for military and Iraqi police patrols.
Officials with the occupation administration said, however, that crime had decreased to the point that they were willing to experiment by lifting the curfew for Ramadan, leaving the option of reimposing it for security considerations.
In other parts of the country, individual military commanders will be free to do the same, according to their own assessments. Soldiers have also received briefings from their commanders and Muslim clerics on the traditions of Ramadan.
