Car bomb leaves 2 dead, 5 injured; Baghdad streets mostly quiet.(Chicago Tribune)

Byline: Colin McMahon

BAGHDAD, Iraq _ A car bomb Friday wounded five members of the Iraqi National Guard and killed two civilians near the northern town of Beiji, while residents of Baghdad and other major cities spent New Year's Eve under threat of a three-day "curfew" imposed by an insurgent group bent on attacking U.S. targets.

Amid an official nighttime curfew imposed by the interim Iraqi government and enforced by U.S. troops and Iraqi police, the streets of Baghdad were quiet most of Friday night as families stayed home to mark the end of a bloody and disappointing calendar year.

"I am not celebrating tonight because of the security situation," said Ahmed Sami, a 24-year-old computer science student. "Beyond that, there are a lot of areas in Iraq living in tragedy, such as Fallujah. We used to celebrate every New Year's Eve with my friends. But the circumstances were good then."

Iraqi and U.S. authorities dismissed the warning from the Ansar al-Sunnah Army for Iraqis to stay home Thursday, Friday and Saturday. And some Baghdad residents downplayed it as well, saying threats had become commonplace in Iraq. "They are just like dogs barking," one Iraqi said.

People stayed in nonetheless.

"I am not celebrating tonight. We did it last night, because we thought something bad would happen tonight," said businessman Waleed Tariq, 38, recalling the bombing last New Year's Eve of Nabil, a popular Baghdad restaurant. This year, he said, "we sat in a friend's house, drank and watched music on television."