June 2, 2011

BAGHDAD — Iraqi security forces arrested more than a dozen activists here over the past week in a sweep that rights groups called a pre-emptive strike to prevent a flickering reform movement from springing back to life.

Elsewhere in Iraq, in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province west of Baghdad, a series of explosions on Thursday aimed at security forces killed 15 people and wounded 20, local officials said.

The detentions in Baghdad came just days before the government faces a self-imposed deadline to demonstrate improvements in services and government reforms. Some analysts have said that if this date passes without significant reforms, there could be new rounds of reinvigorated demonstrations.

By Thursday, security forces had released most of those detained, according to an Iraqi human rights activist, who said that four remained in jail.

The Baghdad Operations Command, the capital security force controlled by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, denied it had arrested anyone for demonstrating. In a statement on its Web site, the force said the four men still being detained had been arrested for carrying fake identification cards, an allegation their family members dismissed as ludicrous.

The youth protest movement, in which demonstrators thronged the streets of major cities last winter, demanding better government services and an end to corruption, had quieted to a near whisper lately, its momentum sapped by harsh security measures, dozens of arrests and a gradual ebb in public interest.

As part of the government’s two-pronged response, promising reforms while cracking down on dissent, Mr. Maliki cut his salary in early March and gave his cabinet 100 days to make progress in tackling the crumbling infrastructure and sputtering economy.

Many Iraqis and analysts expect fresh torrents of public unrest as that deadline passes early next week and another scorching summer settles over Baghdad, with relentless 120-degree days magnifying outrage over a power grid that delivers just a few hours of electricity a day.

"They are afraid," said Hanna Edwar, a prominent human rights activist and government critic. "So they try to limit the number of activists. It is a failed measure."

The demonstrators still gather at Tahrir Square in Baghdad every Friday, but their numbers have tapered off to a few hundred, or sometimes no more than a few dozen.

Four people were arrested near the square last Friday, Ms. Edwar said. Thirteen others, members of an activist group called Where Are My Rights, were arrested at a meeting at their offices on Saturday and released over the following days, with the last nine being freed on Thursday afternoon.

Rights groups said the people detained had been denied access to lawyers and visits with their families, and criticized the arrests as a ploy to stifle any dissent in the streets, even if it was peaceful and relatively low-key.

Human Rights Watch said Thursday that several activists had been "detained, interrogated and beaten," and that there were signs that security officials had been tracking the movements of the protest organizers.

After large protests in February, Iraq’s leaders tried to offer constructive responses by cracking down on corrupt officials and wasteful government programs, and by increasing fuel and food subsidies. But the security forces, who are ultimately under Mr. Maliki’s authority, also swept up dozens of demonstrators, journalists and intellectuals after large-scale marches, drawing criticism from American officials.

Parents and friends of the four men still in jail in Baghdad described them as students who had been inspired by the calls for better government, more honest leaders and functioning public services, and who spent most of their free time updating their Facebook pages, or huddling together to discuss the next demonstration.

In the attack in Ramadi, two bombs were detonated about 8:30 p.m. in the center of the city. Several minutes later, a car bomb exploded near the scene of the first two explosions.

"I saw a speeding car heading toward the police," said Mohammed Husain, 22, a shop owner in Ramadi. "I saw the police shooting at the car, but the car exploded about 10 meters from where the policemen were standing."

When ambulances carrying the wounded arrived at a local hospital, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device at the entrance.

It was unclear on Thursday night how many people had been killed in each explosion.

Duraid Adnan and Yasir Ghazi contributed reporting from Baghdad, and an employee of The New York Times from Ramadi.