The Iraqi government announced yesterday that a security cordon of 40,000 soldiers and police will ring Baghdad starting next week to try to halt a spree of insurgent violence that has killed more than 620 people this month.

　　The interior minister, meanwhile, said his office believes militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was wounded, while an Internet statement claimed that Iraq's most feared terrorist group had appointed a deputy to fill in for the Jordanian.

　　At least 15 Iraqis died in violence nationwide, including a child, during clashes between US forces and insurgents in the northern city of Tal Afar.

　　Among those killed were a university professor, slain in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad, and three policemen who died in a car bombing in the capital.

　　The military also said a US Marine died of wounds sustained a day earlier during the launch of an anti-insurgent offensive involving about 1,000 US troops in the western city of Haditha.

　　The security cordon next week would be followed by similar anti-terrorism moves across the country, part of an effort to shift the government stance toward the insurgency from a defensive to an offensive position, Interior Minister Bayan Jabr and Defense Minister Saadoun al-Duleimi said.

　　"Next week, we will have a strong and safe cordon around Baghdad. We will not allow anyone to cross it," al-Duleimi said.

　　Jabr said there would be 675 checkpoints plus mobile checkpoints to try to deter assailants in areas where attacks are frequent and cars are often booby-trapped. "You will witness unprecedented security measures and none familiar to you," he said. "We have to work together, government and people, because security is for all the citizens, not just the government."

　　The ministers said Baghdad would be divided into two sectors and 15 districts where police and emergency personnel would operate 24 hours a day.

　　"We do believe that we are going to give Iraqis what they have lacked," al-Duleimi said, an apparent reference to the poor security throughout Iraq since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime.

　　The latest statements concerning al-Zarqawi follow recent rumors and claims he had been wounded, possibly by a bullet in the lung, or perhaps even had died.

　　Jabr said he has information that al-Zarqawi was, indeed, wounded, but that he wasn't sure how seriously. "We are not sure whether he is dead or not, but we are sure that he is injured," Jabr said.

　　An Internet statement claimed the al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist group had appointed a temporary replacement for al-Zarqawi. The statement was quickly denied in another Website claim that disputed Abu Hafs al-Gerni had taken over.

　　The authenticity of either Internet statement could not be verified, although the second - denying any deputy had been appointed - was posted in the name of the person who usually handles the group's Website claims and announcements.

　　Wednesday's first statement identified al-Gerni as "deputy of the holy warriors," saying he was "known for carrying out the hardest operations, and our sheik would choose him and his group for the tough operations." But the Website statement signed in the name of so-called al-Qaida in Iraq spokesman, Abu Maysara al-Iraqi, denied the group had appointed al-Gerni "or anyone by any other name."

　　Experts said that al-Gerni is a Saudi who has been al-Zarqawi's military adviser and is the emir, or prince - as senior commanders are called - of the military committee of al-Qaida in Iraq.

　　(The Associated Press)