The Iraqi government declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew Friday after insurgents set up roadblocks in central Baghdad and opened fire on U.S. and Iraqi troops just north of the heavily fortified Green Zone.

Iraqi civilians rush home, past plumes of black smoke rising from Haifa street, before a hastily-announced 2 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew took hold in Baghdad, Iraq Friday, June 23, 2006. The Iraqi government declared a state of emergency in Baghdad Friday, following clashes which broke out in Haifa street in central Baghdad. [AP]

U.S. and Iraqi forces also clashed with insurgents in southern Baghdad.

The prime minister ordered everyone off the streets of the capital from 2 p.m. Friday until 6 a.m. Saturday. The order came at around noon, when many residents were in prayer, and sent many rushing home to beat the curfew.

In other violence, a bomb struck a Sunni mosque in a town northeast of Baghdad, killing 10 worshippers and wounding 15 in the same town where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was slain earlier this month, police said.

The explosion occurred in front of the Grand Hibhib mosque in Diyala province, according to the provincial joint coordination center.

In the southern city of Basra, a car bomb ripped through a market and nearby gas station, killing at least five people and wounding 15, including two policemen police said.

At least 19 other deaths were reported in Baghdad.

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